Uxmal

Uxmal is the finest surviving example of Puuc architecture, its buildings faced with cut-stone mosaic above plain lower walls. The Pyramid of the Magician is oval in plan, which is rare in Mesoamerica.

Overview

The city had no cenote and depended entirely on rainwater cisterns, which explains the rain god Chaac masks stacked in hundreds across its facades. The Governor’s Palace stands on an artificial platform and is aligned not with the rest of the site but with the rising of Venus, which its own frieze records in glyphs. Uxmal flourished from about 700 to 1000 and was abandoned before the Spanish arrived.

Highlights

Walk the Nunnery Quadrangle slowly: the four ranges have different facades and the mosaic work is the reason the site matters. Climbing is not permitted on the Magician but the Great Pyramid can be climbed for the view over the whole city. It is eighty kilometres from Mérida and far quieter than Chichén Itzá — the same architecture with a tenth of the visitors.

Overview

Highlights

Location