El Castillo is a stepped-pyramid at the center of Chichen Itza’s Great Plaza. The massive, nine-tiered limestone structure measures 98.5 feet tall with a 180.5 foot base. The Castle (also called the Temple of Kukulcan) is an amazing pre-Columbian structure of design, engineering and workmanship for its construction in the 9th to the 12th centuries. Since 2006, visitors can no longer climb the staircases of El Castillo. Tourists are similarly roped off from the other 30 buildings at this archaeological site.
