View of El Castillo, the temple of Kukulcán (Quetzalcoatl), the plumed serpent god, at Chichen Itza. Photogravure made from Henry Sweet's original photograph (d. 1933) taken in 1889. Chichen Itza was a large pre-Columbian city built by the Maya civilization. The archaeological site is located in the municipality of Tinum, in the Mexican state of Yucatan. The Maya their highest state of development during AD 250 to 900.