Quiriguá (redirected from Quirigua, Guatemala)

Quiriguá (kērēgwä`, kērēwä`), city of the Classic epoch of the Maya, E Guatemala. It is famous for its zoomorphics. Its stone steles have fine hieroglyphs. Near the ruins the United Fruit Company maintains a hospital.

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Quiriguá 

a city of the ancient Mayans.

Quiriguá was founded in the Montagua River valley (in contemporary Guatemala) by settlers from Copan in the second half of the seventh century A.D., this explains the resemblance of the ornate decorative style of architecture and sculpture of these two cities. Quiriguá fell into decay in the ninth century. The ruins of the city were first examined by the English artist F. Catherwood in 1840. Later the ruins were studied by the English scholar A. P. Maudslay and by American scholars (who took part in expeditions sent by the Archaeological Institute of America and the Carnegie Institute). The tall four-sided sculptured stelae and the fanciful carvings of mythical monsters are the most well known among the monuments.

REFERENCES

Stephens, J. L. Incidents of Travel in Central America: Chiapas and Yucatan. New York, 1841.
Maudslay, A. P. Archaeology, vols. 1–4. London, 1889–1902.
Morley, S. G. Inscriptions of Petén, vols. 1–6. Washington, 1937–38.