The Temple of the Cross is the largest in the Cross Group. Carvings in the Central Sanctuary show the God L smoking tabacco and Kan Balam. Behind the reproduction of a panel depicting Kan Balam's accession.

This temple was built to celebrate important dates in K'inich Kan B'alam's life and his ascenssion to the throne of Palenque. Maybe he is buried under this temple. In the panel at the top of the pyramid stands Kan Balam in the middle and in front of him (the little figurine) is his father, Pacal. His dead father gives him symbol of his power over Palenque. Other scientifst believe it to be Kan Balam, appearing twice on the panel. One time as a young man and the other as an adult. Between both is only the holy ceiba, the World Tree. It is connected to the realm of the otherworld. The Tree stands as the depiction of the Earth, the entrance to the underworld. Both persons stand on a so called sky band. It is composed of signs representing Venus, the Sun, the Moon etc. This tells us, that the scene doesn't play out in the world of the living. In 1993 archaeologist found a great offering in this temple. In this offering are more than 100 incense burners. However, the grave hasn't been found until this day.

The Text in the Sanctuary gives us 3122 B.C. as First Father's birth date. It also gives us the birth date of the First Mother, also called Lady Beast after her name glyph. Her birth was 3121 B.C. In 3112 B.C. First Father “raised up the sky” (wakah chan, is is also the Maya name from the Temple of the Cross).

After that, God G1 or Hunahpu was born. He is one of the Gods of the so called Palenque Triade. He is the patron God of the city. His birth took place 2360 B.C. 10 days later he made the cosmic order. And the text tell us that First Mother became the first king of Palenque at the age of 815 years (in 2305 B.C.) .

The text found in this temple tells us also about the date of a really rare event: on July 23rd, 690 A.D. there was a conjunction of Jupiter, Mars, Saturn and the Moon.

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