Mask Temple (N9-56)

17.7517°N, 88.6539°W.

The Mask Temple, designated Structure N9-56, sits south of the High Temple at Lamanai on the New River Lagoon in northern Belize. The pyramid was first built around 200 BCE during the Late Preclassic and modified through the Early Classic, reaching its visible form by approximately 400 CE. " The masks were preserved intact because the temple was sealed by a later construction phase that buried them under fill. Excavation by David Pendergast's team for the Royal Ontario Museum exposed the originals in 1981, still bearing traces of red and ochre pigment in protected recesses. The masks were sealed under fill during a Late Classic remodeling and never re-exposed by the original Maya inhabitants. A protective shelter now covers the largest of the surviving masks.

The Mask Temple is a building whose own builders covered up the most striking face on it before they walked away.