Quiriguá is one of the smallest Mayan cities and impresses more with its huge steles, created between 480 and 806 A.D., than with its colossal buildings.

Among them, the largest of the entire Maya world is the 8-meter-high “Stele E” weighing 60 tons.
During the Maya late classical period Quiriguá was an important trading post between Tikal and Copán, but above all a ceremonial centre.
Quiriguá was involved in the wars and changing alliances between Tikal, Copán and Calakmul.
“Cauac Sky”, which was Quiriguá’s ruler for six decades from 723 to 784 A.D., is the subject of seven of the twelve stelae on site.
One of the most important events in the history of the city was the capture of the famous ruler of Copán “18 Rabbits” by Quriguás “Cauac Sky”. One of the stelae reports that “18 rabbits” was beheaded at Quiriguás Plaza as part of a sacrificial rite.
As a result, a gap of more than 20 years appeared in Copán’s chronology of rulers.
An iconographic feature of some steles is that they depict rulers with beards similar to those found in Egyptian representations. Also exceptional are Qurigua’s zoomorphic stone sculptures, including the turtle altar known as “Zoomorph P”.
Quiriguá was abandoned at the same time as Tikal, towards the end of the 9th century. The site has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1981.