Looking east from behind Stela A, this partial view of the Great Plaza allows one to imagine how magnificent this space must once have been. The open plaza space was conceived of as the surface of the primordial sea that existed before Creation. This association may have been vividly enhanced by the water that collected in the plaza after a tropical rainstorm. This would have been so by virtue of the plaster that once sealed the plaza's pavement. The entire plaza space would have thus been seen as becoming a huge watery mirror out of which rose the magnificent monuments of the Copan rulers, commemorating politico-religious events that were thought of as essential for the continuation of Creation.