The second of the New Seven Wonders of the World is the Mayan city of Chichén Itzá. The legendary monument is commemorated by a gold coin of the Czech Mint weighing one troy ounce.

The Yucatán situated in south-eastern Mexico was home to the ancient Maya. However, this peninsula was not kind to its inhabitants, as it has almost no surface water. Yet the Native Americans built an advanced civilization with elaborated script, accurate calendars, advanced mathematics and efficient agriculture here. How did they do it? The name of the magnificent metropolis they built here offers a clue. The phrase Chichén Itzá can be translated as "On the edge of the well of magic water". Near the city were two so-called cenotes, or flooded caves with sunken ceilings, which served as both drinking water reservoirs and sacrificial sites where the Maya threw offerings to the gods. The highest Mesoamerican god was the feathered serpent Kukulkan. The Maya reverence for him is expressed in a monumental pyramid at the heart of Chichén Itzá. The sophisticated structure has four staircases - each with 91 steps. At the top, 24 metres high, is a platform that forms the 365th step, which corresponds to the number of days in the Mayan year. At the spring and autumn equinox, the setting sun creates a magical effect here - the statues cast a shadow that looks like a snake slithering down the steps to the snake's head carved into the base of the structure... Chichén Itzá, where we can also find an observatory, a playground and a series of temples, is one of Mexico's biggest attractions today. The imagination of tourists is fired by the bloody rituals with which the Mayans sought to appease the heavens, as well as the mysterious disappearance of the town's inhabitants three hundred years before the Spanish conquistadors arrived in the 16th century.

The reverse side of the coin, which is the work of the medal maker Ludmila Kracíková, DiS., presents the actual form of the Pyramid of Kukulkan supplemented with the inscription CHICHÉN ITZÁ. On the obverse side, which is common to the entire cycle, all the new seven wonders of the world appear - the Brazilian statue of Christ the Saviour, the Jordanian rock city of Petra, the Mayan city of Chichén Itzá in Mexico, the Roman Colosseum, the Indian monument of the Taj Mahal, the Inca seat of Machu Picchu in Peru and the Great Wall of China. As the coins of the Czech Mint are issued with the foreign license of the island of Niue, they also bear its national emblem, the nominal value of 50 DOLLARS (NZD) and the year of issue 2024 on the obverse side.

The mintage is only 200 one-ounce coins.