19 
Overall, measurements are 545 feet long by 225 feet wide and, 
within the "temples” at either end, about 480 feet long. The 
"playing field" itself, apart from low lateral terraces, is 272 
feet long by approximately 120 feet wide. The temple at the 
south end is an 80-foot wide structure. The one at the northern 
end is smaller, perhaps 25 feet wide. It is also colonaded, a 
"dais" perhaps for seating important functionaries. No public 
address system was needed to reach the ears of the multitude 
that might be called together in the confines of the court, for 
it is so constructed that the human voice carries its full length 
from one temple to the other, without undue effort, as clearly 
as a bell. We know, because we tried it. As marvelous, too, 
is the echo that travels back and forth between the side walls, 
a distance of 120 feet or more. Clap your hands smartly and 
the echo comes back 18 times , repeated in gradually diminishing 
volume. This, we tried, too. Though we did not count them all, 
the echoes were often enough repeated that we accepted as correct 
our guide’s statement as to the number. 
The Ch.ich.4n ItzA Ball Court certainly must rank as one of 
the acoustic wonders of the world. Brilliantly conceived, when 
one realizes that it served also as a great, roofless auditorium, 
its marvelous acoustic properties can be no accident of design 
or of construction. The priests and the architects of Maya-land 
knew what they were about in those early days when it came to 
acoustics, art, and architecture I 
The two days we spent at Chichen Itz4 included visits to 
the Temple of the Warriors and the thousand columns, the Nunnery, 
) 
