Pyramids Concert Controversy

Despite reports of controversy leading up to a Placido Domingo concert at the 1,200-year-old Mayan pyramids of Chichen Itza in Mexico, the show went off without a hitch Oct. 4.

A researcher at a Mexican archaeology institute recently filed a criminal complaint against organizers for violating a law that requires the ruins to be preserved for educational purposes.

“These monuments are not there so that rich people can hold events at them,” archaeologist Cuauhtemoc Velasco reportedly said, adding that tickets for the show cost between $45 and $900 in a country where the minimum wage averages $4.50 per day.

However, organizers did take steps to ensure that the site wouldn’t be harmed during the show by capping the crowd at 4,000 and limiting the stage and seating structures for the “Concert of 1,000 Columns.”

Mexican officials said there hasn’t been a “single complaint” about damage from the show. A handful of concerts have taken place at the site since Luciano Pavarotti performed there in 1997, drawing 18,000.

Other countries have taken a stricter approach to concerts at historic sites.

India’s supreme court banned large-scale shows at the Taj Mahal after a 1996 Yanni concert reportedly caused damage to the structure. Concerts at the Giza pyramids in Egypt must be at least 500 yards from the site to prevent damage.