Tikal Tikal, located in Guatemala, was probably on of the largest Mayan cities, and its important buildings covered one square mile. It is considered to be a contemporary, and rival, of Copan, however, several buildings here are much older than Copan. Tikal was not widely known until 1848, and in 1875, two pieces of carved beams were presented to the British Museum. It was not widely known because it is a very isolated site. Citation The above image is a portion of a painting by Carlos Vierra from the San Diego Museum. Because of the great number of temples and pyramids, Tikal can also be called the Monumental City of the Mayas. In fact, it has the largest temple of the Mayan ruins, Temple IV. For an overview of the Tikal complex, click here. This site is maintained by Ryan Cohagan at Creighton University. Please feel free to visit our course syllabus. My e-mail address is cohagan@creighton.edu I would appreciate some feedback. Created: November 10, 2001 Updated: December 12, 2001