Mesa Verde National Park

Mesa Verde National Park is located in the southwestern part of Colorado, in the town of Montezuma Country. The total area of the park is about two hundred square kilometers, and the elevation difference varies between 1900 and 2600 meters above sea level. The main attraction of the park is the numerous ruins of stone dwellings created in weathered sandstone canyons by the ancient people, better known as the Anasazi Indian tribe. These buildings were erected in the XIII century and are the first in the history of American architecture, a sample of an “apartment building”. The number of residential visits in such houses was up to one hundred separate rooms.

The name of the park was given in honor of the plateau of the same name, rising 600 meters above the surrounding area, the slopes of which are covered with coniferous forest. In Spanish, Mesa Verde means “Green Table”. The popularity of these places began to increase in the second half of the XIX century, when Spanish researchers began to understand the value of ancient rocks for the life of Indians. The first researcher of Mesa Verde was Richard Weatheril, an amateur historian who studied the history of the Pueblo, in addition, the archaeological work of the Swedish geologist Gustav Nordenskjöld was of great importance.

In 1906, in order to protect the antiquities from possible vandalism, Mesa Verde received the official status of a national park, and 60 years later entered the National Register of Historic Places of the United States. Since September 1978, the park has been included in the UNESCO World Cultural and Natural Heritage List.