Temple 16 (Rosalila)

14.8375°N, 89.1425°W.

Temple 16 stands at the heart of the Copán Acropolis in western Honduras, the funerary monument of K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo', the dynasty's founder, and the burial place of his sixteenth successor. Built in stages from 426 CE through the early ninth century, the visible pyramid encases the Rosalila Temple — an earlier shrine dating to circa 571 CE, sealed intact within the later construction and preserved beneath layers of fill. The Rosalila was discovered in 1989 by Honduran archaeologist Ricardo Agurcia tunneling beneath the floor of Temple 16, its façade still bearing original red, green, and yellow paint. A full-scale replica now stands in the Copán Sculpture Museum. Temple 16 sits above the founder's tomb at the Hunal substructure, recovered in 1995.

Temple 16 is a pyramid whose builders deliberately preserved the previous version inside it instead of tearing it down — and the paint is still on the walls.