Hieroglyphic Stairway

The Hieroglyphic Stairway on Temple 26 in the Principal Group is the longest known Maya inscription, covering 63 steps with approximately 2,200 carved glyphs. The stairway was commissioned by King Smoke Shell around AD 755 to celebrate the Copán dynasty's history and legitimacy. The steps rise steeply from the base of the pyramid to the summit temple; figure sculptures of seated kings are interspersed along the central axis.

The stairway is covered by a modern protective roof, which does unfortunately reduce the dramatic impact of the setting, but also preserves the inscription against erosion. A long-term project to correctly re-read and reassemble the stairway has been ongoing for decades. The stairway faces west onto the Hieroglyphic Stairway Plaza, which is one of the more atmospheric spaces in the site, enclosed by mounds and monuments on three sides.

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The stairway was damaged by a collapse that scattered the individual stone blocks and partially disordered the inscription. When archaeologists first reassembled it in the 1940s, they had to make educated guesses about the sequence of many steps, and the reconstruction is now known to contain errors. The lower portion of the stairway — which had remained in place — is securely read, but scholars debate the correct order of some of the upper steps. Reading the full inscription correctly requires correlating the stairway with other Copán monuments and inscriptions.