Ruins of Quiriguá

Most of the steles, some of which tower over 30 feet, pay homage to Cuauc Sky’s victory over King 18 Rabbit (Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil), leader of nearby Copán, in 737 AD.  The steles, huge slabs of sandstone intricately carved with hieroglyphs and anthropomorphic figures, cover more than a square mile and, at the time of Spanish colonization, were the largest stone monuments erected in the New World.

The site remained undiscovered by Europeans until 1841, when American explorer John Lloyd Stephens and artist Fredrick Catherwood published sketches of the steles.  Quiriguá was the focus of significant archaeological attention until the United Fruit Company purchased the site surrounding lands for banana plantations in 1910.  When United Fruit set aside some 75 square acres to preserve the archaeological integrity of the site, Quiriguá became a small island of rain forest in a sea of banana plantations.  In the 1970s, the University of Pennsylvania, National Geographic Society, and Guatemalan Instituto de Antropología e Historia launched a major restoration effort ensuring that these awe-inspiring monuments will continue to impress visitors for generations.