Building 5

20.4428°N, 97.3742°W.

Building 5 sits adjacent to the Pyramid of the Niches at El Tajín in the northern lowlands of Veracruz, Mexico, and forms part of the Classic Veracruz monumental core. The pyramid was constructed between approximately 800 and 1100 CE during El Tajín's apogee, of cut sandstone and volcanic stone faced with stucco, rising in tiered platforms with a single broad central staircase. The structure's façade carries the distinctive recessed-niche motif characteristic of El Tajín architecture, though in fewer numbers than the neighboring Pyramid of the Niches. Building 5 anchors the south side of the Plaza Menor and is associated with one of the site's seventeen ball courts — more than any other Mesoamerican site. José García Payón's excavations from 1938 through the 1970s established the chronology of the precinct.

Building 5 is a temple that shares a wall with one of the seventeen ball courts in a city built around the game.