These things of beauty were intended as a tribute to their gods, or to their rulers. When attempting to decipher Mayan designs, remember that every single design element that you see, no matter how confusing, has a meaning or is a symbol.
Nothing is random or done only for the sake of beauty.
Everything the Maya did in their daily routine, all their actions and their goals, were directed toward living in harmony with the forces of nature, and this mind set continues with Native American people today. With our modern farming technology and food storage capability, we probably can't comprehend just how dependent the Maya were upon the natural world. The lack of sufficient rainfall, plagues of insects, or a poor harvest could mean disaster. To the Maya, this disaster might be avoided by appealing to the special god in charge of a particular function of nature. But their view of Creation, and how things work was more complex than ours, because of their dependence on the forces of nature.