|  UXMAL
About 80 km (50 miles) south of Merida,
behind a hill range, is the archaeological zone of Uxmal. Hot and
arid, this area suffers from the almost total loss of water because
there are no "cenotes" like in the northern part of Yucatán.
However, despite this, they built huge cities with nice monuments
whose splendor can compete with any other place. Uxmal, distortion
from Oxmal, means "built three times". According to the
Book of Chilam Balam, Ah Suytok Tutul Xiu settled there between
987 and 1007. Other historic sources claim that Uxmal was rebuilt
in the seventh century.
The Mayan city of Uxmal, founded about 700, had about 25,000 inhabitants.
Built from 700 to 1000, the buildings are arranged according to
astronomic data.
We preferred UXMAL to CHICHÉN ITZÁ.
The mayan provinces
The huge territory occupied by the Mayas was not a homogenous area.
Huge stylistic provinces are maybe the testimony of the existence
of ancient politic and economic units, more or less autonomous and
influenced by the more powerful units. The style of Palenque,
a variation of the one in Petén , Guatemala, presents features
of its own. The same is true of the site of Copán and Quirigua,
in the region of Rio Motagua.
In Yucatàn Peninsula
, several styles were identified : in north east of Petén,
the Rio Bec style; in northwest, the Chenes style and in the north
of this one, the Puuc style. This word means the hill range that
crosses the peninsula from east to west. Uxmal was the main city
there. Other cities, such as Kabah, Sayil, Xlapak, and Labná
grew there and formed a kind of confederation in the Greek cities
style.
Chaac God
Every farmer of the tropical areas radically depends upon the rain,
and even more in the arid regions. Tlaloc, on the Mexican highlands,
and Chaac in the Mayan area, were a lot more important than other
gods. The high number of representations of Chaac on the sites left
durable memories to the Indians of Yucatán.
Nowadays, they still regularly worship him. His image with a trunk
shape nose is the central patter of the decorations in every construction.
Most of the constructions in Uxmal match the same mid and late classic
(from seventh to ninth century) style as in Chichén
Itzá. The Toltec influence is almost nonexistent, meaning
that this site was not occupied by foreign people. But, the presence
of the cult of Quetzalcoátl-Kukulcán shows the existence
of people maybe from the neighboring regions of Campeche, who settled
there at the time of the Toltecs. The dynasty of the Xius (word
coming from the Náhuatl), who must have come from this area,
didn’t build the large constructions of Uxmal. They only made
some transformations and part of the geometric design. One century
before the arrival of the Spanish, the city was completely abandoned
and the Conquistadors
found it empty.
Its buildings are characterized by straight horizontal lines and
an abundant decoration on the upper part of the facades. This contrasts
with the simplicity of the lower stones. Most of them were built
on high artificial platforms and arranged in quadrangle. To make
up for the lack of water on the surface, they collected rainwater
in tanks called chultunes.
The visit focuses on two main districts separated by the Ball Game
: The first one is set up with two adjoining squares, the Birds
quadrangle and the Nunnery quadrangle, the second one is set up
with the Big Pyramid and a large platform holding the Governor’s
Palace and the House of the Turtles.
The Birds Quadrangle
 As
you step in the site, you will see the oval shaped Pyramid of the
Magician. This pyramid (one of the most ancient in the site), shows
the different steps of constructions and the different influences
from outside. Its aspect is different from the other Mayan pyramids.
Set up on an elliptic base, it comprises two parts one on the top
of the other. The existence of five temples perfectly shows the
different steps of the construction.
The first temple, partly visible from the west, got a double
row of rooms with 5 doors on the facade and a transverse room at
every end. The decoration of the facade shows some influence from
Teotihuacán. This first
temple was built on a small platform, almost at ground level. When
they decided to build the second temple, they partially covered
the first one with a pyramid. The Temple II stood at the top of
this pyramid, with stairs built on the east side to reach it. The
Temples III and IV were built on the first floor, widening the base
of the pyramid until totally covering the Temple I. The Temple III
shows influences from Petén, unlike Chénès
style Temple IV, whose facade can be seen on the west side. The
entrance door is the mouth of a huge Chaac head. Magnificent stairs,
hiding part of the façade of Temple I, are lined on each
side with Chaac heads. And the pyramid was covered with another
layer hiding part of Temple IV as well as the eastern stairs leading
to Temple II. On the top of the pyramid stands Temple V, 26 m (85
feet) from the ground. Behind the pyramid, there is a nice courtyard,
named after the wall covered with stone bird sculptures.
The Nunnery Quadrangle
(so named by the Conquistadors because of the resemblance with a
cloister)
 On
every side of a 65m (213 feet) by 45m (148feet) courtyard, stand
buildings whose facades are covered with raised pattern decorations.
It is one of the most fantastic ensembles in Mayan architecture.
Huge stairs leaded to an entrance arch in the southern building.
In front, other stairs, with two temples on each side, lead to the
palace with a 80 (262 feet) long façade. The southern building
with the arch is also 80m (262 feet) long. It has a double row of
rooms. Some of them look outside, the other inside. The eastern
building is the smallest, measuring 48 m (147 feet) long. The western
one is 54 m (177 feet) long. It is the most ornamented. The fresco
on the upper façade has classical elements of the region:
Chaac heads, representations of cabins, mascarons, people sitting
on thrones, etc… as well as big feathered serpents with two
human heads in their mouths. This representation of Quetzalcóatl
might have been realized during the Toltec domination.
The Ball Court, with its rings, located at the entrance of the quadrangle
is also of a Toltec influence.
The Governor palace
The Governor palace stands on a 181 m (594 feet) by 153m (502 feet)
and 12m ( 39 feet) high platform surmounted by a 122 m (400 feet)
by 27 m (89 feet) and 7 m (23 feet) high platform. It is made of
an imposing central part with two lateral building separated by
arches. These arches were later partitioned in rooms. The décor,
made of Greek frets and mascarons of Chaac God, is extraordinary
precise, making this palace one of the most beautiful ones in Pre-Hispanic
American architecture.
This is a true stone lace, a huge mosaic of about 20,000 slabs linked
with taste. Despite its size, the building is well shapely, elegant,
even light, thanks to its perfect integration in the majestic Yucatán
plateau. There are two huge arches piercing the façade
of the building. The decors of the façade look like the one
in the Nunnery quadrangle. This building is worth it to not only
view up close but also at a distance. Its eastern orientation leads
us to think that the Mayas placed it there to observe Venus.
By the side of the Governor Palace, stands a great pyramid - 32
m (104 feet) high - whose facade has been restored. It holds the
Temple of the Parrots, pleasantly ornamented with macaws with spread
wings, flowers or reef knots. In the western corner, three noticeable
mascarons have been reconstituted : from each slightly open mouth
emerges a human head with some solar meanings. From the top of the
Great Pyramid, you have an unobstructed view over the whole city
that had 25,000 inhabitants over 8km2 (1976 acres). Part of another
huge ensemble, to be restored, is the Dovecot. It is noticeable
for its serrated roof-crest that gave it its name. Other ensembles
spread all around the forest.
The house of the turtles
It is located on a terrace north-west from the
Governor Palace. Its facade, plainly adorned, represents the true
sobriety of the style Puuc : a few turtles decorate the very simple
upper ledge.
|
Full pictures of Uxmal
(5 minutes) |
To complete the visit
: To the west of the Ball Court, the Group of the Cemetery, badly
preserved ruins, is worth the detour because of the platform of
the Steles. The Steles are in the small museum at the entrance but
you still can see a nice frieze of glyphs and interlaced heads and
tibias. To the south-east of the Governor Palace, there is the Temple
of the Old Woman, from where there is a nice view of the Palace
and, about 500m (1640 feet) away, the Temple of the Phalluses, a
non erotic symbol of fertility.
The site is open daily from 8AM to 5PM. The entrance
fee is MXN$51 or MXN$111 including the light and sound show (7PM
from November to March and 8PM from April to October; duration 50
min). It is more beautiful than in Chichén Itzá -
This site is included on the Word Heritage Cultural List of UNESCO
since 1996: 
Map of the sites of Mayapán and Uxmal :
To go there : Go to the second class bus station of Mérida
and take the bus with the company ATS (Autotransportes del Sur).
You have the choice between six buses a day and a first departure
at 6AM (1hour and a half trip). To come back, take the bus on road
261, in front of the Hacienda Uxmal (check the return schedule at
the hacienda).
From the second class bus station in Campeche,
there are four departures by day from 6AM too (2hours and a half
trip).
 Click
here to display the selection of photos about Uxmal
The Puuc road
Uxmal is the most important center among several cities.
The Puuc Road is along the unique hills range of the Yucatán
Peninsula, called Sierrita de Ticul. The works of art of the
baroque Mayan architecture were built from 600 to 1000 A.D., during
the extraordinary regional development of the Mayan culture. There
are the Great Palace of Sayil, the Arch of Labná, the Palace
Codz Poop of Kabah and the Pyramid of the Magician, the Nunnery
Quadrangle and the Governor Palace of Uxmal.
Lavishly sculpted, the facades offer a huge diversity of previously
manufactured elements making up a stone mosaic with geometrical
complex designs and symbolic elements such as the Mayan house, the
serpents, the turtles and the birds, the Greek frets and columns.
Everywhere, there are masks of the rain God Chaac. In an area without
spring, river or lake, he was the most venerated God.
Kabah, located 20 km (12.4
miles) from Uxmal, has one of the most beautiful specimens in Mayan
architecture. This palace, called Codz Poop ("rolled mat"
referring to the trunk shape Chaac masks), as an exception in the
Puuc region, has a whole façade adorned with more than 250
Chaac masks disposed in a frenzy repetition. Built on a huge platform,
it dominates the road from Uxmal. On the other side of this road,
a restored arch indicated the entrance of the city and the beginning
of a "sacbe" (paved road) that led to Uxmal,
through a small temple, called the mirador.
Sayil,
located 9 km (5.6 miles) south from Kabah, offer two partly restored
constructions : the Palace and the Mirador. The first one is the
most interesting with its 90 m (295 feet) wide façade. It
comprises three stories, each one setting back from the other. The
facades are adorned in the traditional Puuc style. In addition to
the representations of Chaac, there are, above the doors of the
second floor, very stylized representations of the descending God,
Venus, in the morning form. This Great Palace, several times extended,
comprises 99 rooms, some of them dark rooms.
Its architecture has three superposed levels and wider openings
thanks to pillars with capitals. In front of the palace, a trail
leads to the Mirador, a temple that still has part of its crest.
It is believed that a market was held close to this temple.
Xlapak, located
5 km (3miles) from Sayil, displays a modest palace with nine rooms
and a few nice Chaac masks.
Labná
The same road leads to Labná (4 km or 2.5 miles from Xlapak).
Here also are the same sumptuous palaces with facades covered with
Chaac masks, but the detour is worth it because of the magnificent
adorned arch which connected two buildings. The doors are surmounted
by small mini huts with a trace of paint remaining. The nice palace
is adorned by the most beautiful masks in Puuc area.
These four sites are open daily from 8AM to 5PM; entrance fee :
between MXN$37 and MSN$43. If you can’t visit all the sites,
give priority to Kabah, Labná and Sayil.
To get there, from Mérida,
take a Ruta Puuc ATS bus leaving every day at 8AM with a 30 minute
stop in every site (1hour30 in Uxmal) and back at 4PM ( MXN$125/135).
The ceremonial sites of Uxmal, Kabáh, Labná
and Sayil form the peak of the Mayan art and architecture.
Click
here to display the selection of photos about the Puuc road
 
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