Uxmal is one of the most impressive Maya archaeological sites in the Yucatan peninsula. It was probably our favourite ancient city in Mexico, along with Monte Albán – we certainly loved it more than super-famous Chichén Itzá, and it was quite a different experience, far from the crowds.
It was actually shocking to enjoy Uxmal with so few other visitors, considering Uxmal is just one hour away from Mérida and it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996. We literally didn’t see more than 20 other visitors, and we didn’t arrive that early.
Uxmal is also the beginning of Puuc Route (Ruta Puuc), that also includes the archaeological sites of Kabah, Sayil and Labná. The Puuc Route runs 40 km along the Puuc hills, that dominate the vast Yucatec plains.
However, due to COVID-19 restrictions, as of February 2022 the only arcaheological sites open in the Puuc region are Uxmal and Kabah.
Brief history of Uxmal
It seems Uxmal was founded around the 7th c. BC, during the Late Classic period of Maya history. Most buildings in Uxmal date from the Late Classic (until 950), and it is the richest example of Puuc architecture.
Most cities in Northern Yucatan, like Uxmal, were not so important in the Maya world until the Late Classic, after several crises in the ancient Maya lands – Petén, the Soconusco coast and the highlands (currently in Southern Mexico, Guatemala and Belize), where powerful cities like Tikal or Calakmul stood.
In the Postclassical period (from the 10th c.) Uxmal was occupied by Xiuh Mayas, who brought some nahua customs like the cult to Quetzalcoatl. During that time, Chichén Itzá, another great city in Northern Yucatan, was dominated by Toltec influence.
Uxmal formed an alliance with Chichén Itzá and Mayapán, but that didn’t prevent conflicts between them. Historians think that Uxmal was abandoned during the 13th c. Actually, when Spanish missionary Diego de Landa visited the area at the end of the 16th c., local Mayas did not remember the origin of Uxmal’s monumental structures.
Puuc architecture reached its climax during the period 770-950 AD.
It mastered geometry and balance and featured significant innovations, especially a new kind of cement made of stone and lime and much finer stonecutting techniques that allowed Puuc architects to build even walls without thick lime coatings.
Vault design was also improved – the old technique based on accumulating rows of protruding stones was abadoned in favour of boot-shaped ashlars that allowed for better positioning and vault geometry.
Compared to the neighbouring Chenes and Río Bec styles, Puuc decoration was usually simpler. It was largely based on large friezes with geometric decoration or painted stucco featuring different figures.
There are basically two main decoration styles – one based on columns and another one based on mosaics in checkerboard or diamond arrangements, on top of which figures were placed.
The most important figures in Puuc wall decoration are figureheads with flowers and stylised serpents, as well as figureheads of Chaac (god of rain) and other gods with protruding noses like Itzamnaj y K’awiil.
But Uxmal also features some Chenes style decoration (originally from the North of Campeche, West of Uxmal) as well as some toltec and Teotihuacan influences.
How to arrive in Uxmal
The archaeological site of Uxmal lies 80 km South of Mérida, the capital city of the State of Yucatán (a bit over 1 hour by car). Take road 180 upon exiting Mérida and then road 261 (towards Xtepén / Muna). 5 km after the village of Muna, you will arrive in Uxmal.
There are buses from Mérida to Uxmal, which take approximately 2 hours. They leave from the Oriente (East) or Noreste (Northeast) bus terminals.
Opening hours and prices to visit Uxmal
The archaeological site of Uxmal is open every day from 8 am to 5 pm (last access at 4 pm). It is better visit Uxmal in the morning, when the Yucatec heat is less intense. Later you can continue visiting other sides in the Puuc route.
Uxmal is more expensive than other archaeological sites in Mexico. It costs MX$461 (around 20 €), because the State of Yucatán charges 381 pesos apart from the usual 80 pesos for INAH. But anyways, it is so much worth it.
Visiting Uxmal
Now we will tell you all about the breathtaking places you can see in Uxmal. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19 restrictions, the area south of the Great Pyramid couldn’t be visited, including the Pigeon House and the South Temple.
Plan 2 hours for the whole circuit. The good thing of Uxmal is that distances are quite short – you won’t have to walk much to see all that there is to see.
Temple of the Magician
The Pyramid or Temple of the Magician is the tallest and probably most famous construction in Uxmal.
It is the only known elliptical building in the Maya region. It is the result of five superimposed construction stages, which is tpyical in Mesoamerica, between the 6th and 10th centuries. It is 35 metres tall over 53 metres on its longer side.
The East façade features a breathtaking monumental staircase. At a height of two-thirds of it there is an opening – that was the entrance to the temple built duting the second stage, when the primitive temple was covered by a pyramid.
Temple V (from the 5th and last stage) stands on top of the pyramid. On the East side, its design is a typical to Puuc motif – an imitation of a Maya hut with a thatched roof and intertwined serpents running along a smooth wall.
The West façade has a more intricate decoración, Chenes style, mostly in temple IV, that pops out of the structure below the summit, at the end of a steep staircase.
The decoration on the entrance to this temple represents a giant figurehead of Chaac, whose mouth makes the actual door.
Above it, the West façade panels of temple V display a geometrical design based on diamond-shaped countours that represent the Earth.
Nunnery Quadrangle
The Nunnery Quadrangle, or Quadrangle of the Nuns (Spanish: Cuadrángulo de las Monjas) is made of four large structures on platforms at different levels around a large rectangular courtyard.
It was a royal complex with government functions (not residential), where the ruler, its council and the court gathered to take decisions, pronounce rulings and other activities.
Its name was given by Spanish conquistadores that imagined that this great square was a Maya nunnery (reflecting the huge religious fervour in 16th-century Europe).
The main entrance to the Quadrangle of the Nuns was through a monumental vault on the South wall. Now you will enter from the East, behind the Pyramid of the Magician.
Across, the North building seems the most important of the complex, as it is on a higher platform, with a large central staircase and two sets of columns. Its decoration is very intricate, with meanders, lattices and Chaac figureheads.
Each building in the Nunnery Quadrangle has a different design combination, all associated with deities, cosmological concepts and evoking a strong cult of fertility.
The East and West buildings as impressive as the North. The West building displays feathered serpents, warriors and a great Chaac figurehead over geometric symbols.
The decoration of the East building is based on six trapezoidal arrangements of feathered serpents. Owls were place over each of them.
Ballgame Court
The Ballgame Court is located between the Nunnery Quadrangle and the hill of the Governor’s Palace.
Mesoamerican ballgame, or pitz for Mayas, was very popular throughout the region, but maybe not so much in the Puuc region, as courts are scarce. Only this one has been found in Uxmal, and it’s quite small, albeit in a central location. According to an inscription, it was opened in 906, by the start of Uxmal’s decline.
We can still see one of the rings on the wall used to score points and the feathered serpents between the slope and the vertical wall.
Great Pyramid or Main Temple
Before climbing the Governor’s Palace hill, the tour continues through the Southern area of the Uxmal’s ceremonial centre.
First you will see the Great Pyramid, interpreted as the Main Temple of Uxmal. It was built during the 8th c. Nowadays, it is only 30 metres tall and 80 metres wide, but it was as tall as the Pyramic of the Magician.
Unlike the Magician’s, the Great Pyramid has a classic truncated square pyramidal shape, with nine staircase sections.
The North façade is the only one that has been restored (in the 1970s). Its wide staircase leads to a platform, on top of which sits a building decorated with macaw symbols – the reason why this construction is also known as the Temple of the Macaws. The Chaac figureheads of the corners have a more rounded shape than others in Uxmal.
Pigeon House
The Pigeon House (Spanish: El Palomar or Casa de las Palomas) is located behind the Great Pyramid, on its West. It is made up of a monumental building that closes a 140 sq m rectangular courtyard.
The Pigeon House has rooms on two different levels, with entrances one each side and without any internal communication.
Its name has nothing to do with its actual use. It was given by the Spanish becuase the triangular vaults on the top part reminded them to a pigeon house.
During our visit to Uxmal, this area was closed so we couldn’t visit it.
House of Turtles
The House of Turtles (Casa de las Tortugas) has a sober decoration and very harmonious proportions. It measures 30 by 10 metres, and there are three entrances on each side.
The turtles that decorate the top frieze give it its name. Below them, a wide panel with columns that imitate a thatched-roof Maya hut.
Governor's Palace
The Governor’s Palace is one of Uxmal’s gems, and considered the finest example of Puuc architecture.
The Palace stands on a rectangular platform measuring 180 by 150 metres and 12 metres high, with a central staircase. It is made of three independent buildings. The larger one is in the middle, which has 14 rooms inside. The buildings on the sides are joined to the main building through vaulted galleries.
In the main building, the distance between the entrances gets smaller as you approach the centre. The enormous top panel has an intricate decoration of meanders, Chaac figureheads, columns, garlands and thrones.
In the centre, the representation of a governor with a plume and eight two-headed snakes. It looks like what we would call, in Europe, the coat of arms of the governor or the city.
The orientation of the main axis of the Governor’s Palace is tilted 15º to the rest of the buildings in Umxal. According to some experts, this orientation was intended and is related to the cycle of Venus.
From the main pyramid of Cehtzuc, un smaller settlement 5 km from Uxmal, an observer could see Venus setting just behind the Governor’s Palace, when this planet (the morning star) reached the northernmost extremes on the horizon.
This is hardly a coincidence if we consider that the Chaac figureheads on the corners are arranged in groups of five (the number of synodic periods of Venus in an eight-year cycle) and that the glyph for Venus is written over 350 times on these figureheads.
Also, number eight is written on two of these figureheads and there are eight two-headed snakes on the entrance. This could be another reference to the Venus cycle, because it reaches its northermost extremes every eight years.
The Mayas’ astronomical knowledge and the symbolism of its great constructions are always impressive!
Another interesting structure is the Cemetery Quadrangle. It was not really a cemetery, but it was thus called because of its decoration of bones and skulls.
Also, the remains of the entrance arch to the city are still visible. It is located at the start of the sacbé (a wide and straight paved road) to Kabah.
When we finished our visit to Uxmal, when went back to Mérida to taste a delicious authentic cochinita pibil (cooked in an underground oven called píib). But before that, we stopped by the nearby village of Muna, where we visited the workshop of Patricia Morales, a renowned Maya artisan and bought some of her pottery.
