Palenque, known as the `queen of Maya cities', fell into ruin when Mayan civilization suffered a mysterious collapse over a millennium ago. Here, father-and-son team George and David Stuart lead the reader on a journey with pioneer artists and archaeologists from the 18th century on as they rediscovered Palenque and attempted to document the city's graceful and ornate palaces, temples, bas-reliefs and hieroglyphic inscriptions. The Stuarts portray a lost world of palace intrigue, of war and peace, of brilliant architects and sculptors, of patron gods and revered ancestors, of a city teeming with craftsmen, traders and farmers. Today Palenque, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is a place of new reverence and relevance for millions of modern Maya, archaeologists and all those fascinated by the history of the Maya.