page_title: El Tajín
section_title: Tajin Chico
hierarchical_section_title: El Tajín / Major monuments / Tajin Chico
caption_attribution_description: English: Building A in the Tajin Chico section of Tajin, Veracruz, Mexico
context_page_description: El Tajín is a pre-Columbian archeological site in southern Mexico and is one of the largest and most important cities of the Classic era of Mesoamerica. A part of the Classic Veracruz culture, El Tajín flourished from 600 to 1200 CE and during this time numerous temples, palaces, ballcourts, and pyramids were built. From the time the city fell, in 1230, to 1785, no European seems to have known of its existence, until a government inspector chanced upon the Pyramid of the Niches.
  El Tajín, named after the Totonac rain god, was named a World Heritage site in 1992, due to its cultural importance and its architecture. This architecture includes the use of decorative niches and cement in forms unknown in the rest of Mesoamerica. Its best-known monument is the Pyramid of the Niches, but other important monuments include the Arroyo Group, the North and South Ballcourts and the palaces of Tajín Chico. In total there have been 20 ballcourts discovered at this site. Since the 1970s, El Tajin has been the most important archeological site in Veracruz for tourists, attracting 386,406 visitors in 2017.
context_section_description: Tajin Chico is a multilevel portion of the site that stretches north-northwest from the older parts of the city up a hill. Much of this section was created by using massive amounts of landfill. It is an immense acropolis composed of numerous palaces and other civil structures. There are relatively few temples here. It is also more easily defended than other parts of the city. Tajin Chico is so named because it was initially thought to be a separate but related site. It is now known that it belonged to the center of the city. However, as the term was already in the literature about the site, it has stuck.
  Building C was not a temple but its function is not entirely clear. Nearby buildings A and B were palaces. It is probably that this building was used by priests or rulers to receive visitors, petitioners and others.  The roof of Building C was more than 1,600 square feet (150 m²) in size and covered two rooms on the west side as well as main room which opened to the east through five piers.  The entire exterior of the building is covered in stepped frets, with these frets arranged to give the appearance as niches. To further this effect, the inside of the frets were painted dark red and the exterior portion light blue, similar to turquoise. The broad eastern stairway was also painted with cloud-like scroll motifs.
  Building B is a two-story structure that was used as a residence and classified as a palace. Like other structures nearby, its roof is a thick slab of cement and there is another slab that separates the ground and upper floors. The entrance to the building from the plaza was through a divided stairway, leading to a single room 32 by 24 feet (9.8 by 7.3 m) in size. This space is broken by six stone and cement pillars which support the floor above. These columns were thickened over time as it became apparent to have stronger bracing for the weight of the two floors. The upper story is reached by narrow stairway. This floor is more spacious even though there are columns here as well. This is the only multistoried palace found outside the Mayan areas.
  Building A has two levels, stepped frets and niches and is reminiscent of structures found in the Yucatán. However, the lower level of the building is not rooms but a solid base. The lower level is adorned with large rectangular panels which appear to have been painted red. The entrance is on the south side of the building and is quite elaborate. The upper level contains a corridor that goes all the way around and a number of rooms.  The upper level was adorned with stepped frets and scrolls as well. These were painted yellow, blue, red and black. The panels inside were painted with murals, of which only fragments survive. At the east and west side of the corridors are entrances to the rooms, two interconnected rooms on each side of the building.  Building A is constructed over older buildings that were buried when this area was filled in, some aspects of the building, like the buttresses been damage due to settling where there are no buildings below. The facade depicts a false stairway and balustrades of stepped frets capped by niches.  It is unknown if the similarity between this building and the Pyramid of the Niches indicates a relationship between the two.  The false stairs were originally adorned with scroll motifs done in blue and yellow paint, but very little remains.  At the center of the false stairway are true stairs leading upwards under an arch to the first level of the palace.
  The Building of the Columns dominates the highest portion of Tajin Chico. It is part of one of the last building complexes built at El Tajín. These buildings are situated on a platform-terrace with was formed on natural contours and filled in spaces. The other structure on this platform is called the Annex or the Building of the Tunnels, as it is connected to the Building of the Columns by a passageway. Behind these buildings is a large plaza with small low structures on its edges. This building is named for the columns that adorned the east facade of the structure. The columns wer
caption: Building A
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