La Reina Roja

In April 1994, archaeologist Fanny López Jiménez discovered within Temple XIII at Palenque a substructure, a doorway, and a corridor that led to the discovery of three chambers; in one of them lay the sarcophagus of the so-called Red Queen.

The skeletal remains were covered in cinnabar, a vivid red mineral composed of mercury and sulfur, used by the Maya to preserve human remains. Many years of research were required to determine that the remains belonged to a woman and, furthermore, to reveal her identity. Today it is known that the remains belonged to Tz’akab Ajaw, wife of K'inich Janaab' Pakal, known as Pakal “the Great.”

I had vaguely heard about the Red Queen following the discovery of her tomb on June 1, 1994, in Palenque, but it was not until 2025, at the suggestion of conductor Alondra de la Parra, that I began to envision the real possibility of writing a work centered on her discovery and its importance in better understanding the role of women during the Classic period of Maya culture.

I set out to gather as much information as possible on the subject when, suddenly, I came across The Red Queen, a book by the extraordinary journalist Adriana Malvido, an eyewitness to one of the great archaeological discoveries of the twentieth century. Without a doubt, this fascinating chronicle opened a door I had never imagined: the world of the senses, of scent, of the sounds of the jungle, of observation, and of the language of stones and sky, but above all, of the passion for curiosity and mystery shared by those who became an essential part of the knowledge behind this story.

From this reflection—much more deeply focused on human experience and on the obsession of those whose lives were transformed by the Red Queen—I began to imagine the different sections of my work in their purest and most essential form.

The Red Queen is composed of five contrasting sections: I. Luminiscencia en rojo (Luminescence in Red) II. Geometría de selva y piedra (Geometry of Jungle and Stone) III. Cinabrio (Cinnabar) IV. Rostro malaquita (Malachite Face) V. Tz’akab Ajaw

This narrative arc represents, in some way, within my own sonic imagination, the strength and passion of everything that belongs to both the world of the past and that of the present. This sonic journey begins at dawn, where everything glows in red: the intuition of the revelation of one who remained silent for so many years. It continues through the language of the jungle and the stones that led to the discovery. We then hear the primordial force of cinnabar, a precious material associated with death in Maya culture; we reconstruct, through fractals of sound, the malachite face and its intrinsic beauty, and we conclude with the celebration of finally knowing the identity of the central figure of this story.

We also celebrate the passion and intuition of archaeologist Fanny López, who never doubted that the discovery was the tomb of a woman: Tz’akab Ajaw. We also celebrate Adriana’s tenacity in telling this story through the eyes and voice of this ancestral culture.

The Red Queen did not only captivate the life of Fanny or my dear Adriana Malvido; I too found myself immersed in a world of sonic cinnabar, where I was able to enter and listen to the story of Tz’akab Ajaw.

I would like to thank Alondra de la Parra for commissioning this work and for supporting the idea from the very beginning.

Gabriela Ortiz
Mexico City, May 5, 2026