The 365-Day Pyramid

The Maya positioned this 24-meter-tall pyramid so precisely that the equinox light show has repeated reliably for over 1,000 years. Each of its four staircases holds 91 steps, and adding the top platform brings the total to 365 — one for every day of the solar year.

Maya astronomers tracked the planet Venus so closely that their predictions stayed accurate for centuries, using only patient observation passed down through generations of priests. When Spanish conquistadors arrived in the 1500s, they burned the Maya codices that held this knowledge, and most of it was lost.