Sun Temple in Mesa Verde National Park

Sun Temple is a ceremonial structure of masonry buildings in Mesa Verde National Park on top of a mesa across from Cliff Palace. It was named after a sun-like design on a boulder in a corner of the structure. It is located in an optional section off the one way Mesa Top Loop after Oak Tree House but before the loop concludes and it becomes a two-way road again.

It was excavated in 1915 and modern research has studied its use of geometric principles such as the golden rectangle, right triangle and pythagorean triangle.

Sun Temple had walls that were double-coursed (all areas of building material were covered with two thicknesses of material) and are believed to be 11 to 14 feet high. A great deal of effort went into building it, although there has been some discussion that it contains an unfinished letter “D”. No one knows why construction stopped around 1276. The top of it has been covered by a layer of modern concrete to protect it.