A rectilinear .plaza,.70 meters square and . originally bound by low walls, defined Chan Chan's ceremonial center. Around it were about ten rectangular palace compounds. Each successive Chimu king, by custom, started a new family line and built a new self-contained complex, thereby enabling the older generations to continue in their place, while establishing his own identity. The palaces were all enclosed by a high adobe wall and had similar layouts. Jn the middle was a burial ground. Around it, large and small courts organized the spaces into minineighborhoods, complete with streets, residential quarters, temples, and irrigated gardens. Its main streets were 4 to 6 meters wide. The more important rooms were ornamented with low-relief mud friezes, depicting fish, birds, human and animal figures, and geometric motifs.