Seen from between Temple 33 and Temple 34 in the North Acropolis, Temple II emerges from the early morning mist. The North Acropolis was, for most of Tikal's history, the focus of the city's religious architecture and the preferred place of burial for rulers. The eighth-century Tikal king Jasaw Chan K'awiil changed that when he commissioned Temples I and II. The open space between them (now called the Great Plaza) then became the new ceremonial core.