Pyramid of the Niches

20.4422°N, 97.3736°W.

The Pyramid of the Niches stands at the centre of El Tajín in the northern lowlands of Veracruz, Mexico, the architectural signature of the Classic Veracruz culture that flourished here between approximately 600 and 1200 CE. The pyramid rises 20 metres in seven receding terraces of fitted sandstone and volcanic stone faced with stucco, and its façades are pierced by exactly 365 deep recessed niches — one for each day of the solar year. The niches originally held painted offerings and were finished in red and blue pigment. The site was rediscovered in 1785 by Spanish engineer Diego Ruiz, then systematically excavated by José García Payón from 1938 onward. El Tajín controlled the Veracruz lowlands and developed the distinctive yoke-and-hacha ballgame paraphernalia found across Mesoamerica.

The Pyramid of the Niches is a building whose builders carved a niche for every day of their year into the sides of it.