Palenque, Mexico

Located near the Usumacinta River in the Mexican state of Chiapas, Palenque was a Maya city state in southern Mexico that flourished in the 7th century. The Palenque ruins date back to 226 BC to around 799 AD. After its decline, it was absorbed into the jungle, the discovered city area covers up to 2.5 km², however only about 2% of the city has been excavated and restored and is now a famous archaeological site.

Palenque is a medium-sized site, much smaller than such huge sites as Tikal, Chichen Itza, or Copán, but it contains some of the finest architecture, sculpture, roof comb and bas-relief carvings that the Mayas produced. Much of the history of Palenque has been reconstructed from reading the hieroglyphic inscriptions on the many monuments; historians now have a long sequence of the ruling dynasty of Palenque in the 5th century and extensive knowledge of the city-state's rivalry with other states such as Calakmul and Toniná.

The most famous ruler of Palenque was Pacal the Great whose tomb has been found and excavated in the Temple of the Inscriptions.

The forgotten temple, in the jungle.  Forgotten as restoration on the ceiling began, however the task overwhelming as the pyramid is too far into the jungle area.  The pyramid foundation remain mostly intact, but well overtaken by the jungle.