UXMAL (on the Puuk Route)
 The majestic Mayan city of Uxmal (pronounced OOSH-mall), located in the
heart of the Puuk (say POOK) region, is an hour’s drive from Merida.
Together with Sayil, Labna, Xlapak and Kabah, it forms one of the most
beautiful architectonic complexes in Meso-America, and has earned UNESCO
recognition as a masterpiece of human creativity. Puuk architecture takes
its name from the small, low Puuk Hills; it is characterized by rounded
columns on doorways, thin limestone slabs covering rubble and stone-filled
cores, lattice-like stone design, richly-adorned cornices, and a
proliferation of stone mosaic work, particularly on the upper facades,
emphasizing long-nosed Chac rain god masks. The Chenes style of
architecture, also seen at Uxmal, used lavish ornamentation on buildings,
with “monster mask” doorways and long-nosed Chaacs (the god of rain) built
one upon another. Its original name was Oxmal, which in Maya means “thrice
built,” a reference to the different groups of occupiers who inhabited
this great city at different times. The Xiu was the governing family of
Uxmal.
 Founded in the 6th century AD, Uxmal flourished from 700 AD to 1000 AD,
when it was abandoned, leaving ruins covering an area roughly one and a
half miles by 600 yards, with a few lesser constructions outside these
measurements. Long after it was deserted, people still dimly recalled
Uxmal as a place of great pomp and splendor, a walled city and capital of
a powerful and interconnected regional state.
The Pyramid of the Magician, also known as The House of the Soothsayer,
or El Adivino (from a Mayan myth), rises 125 feet above ground and, like
so many Maya pyramids and temples, is the result of five superimposed
stages of building, crowned by a temple at the summit, from where one can
contemplate the full grandeur of Uxmal.
The Nunnery Quadrangle, named for its resemblance to a convent, has
four large edifices resting on an articifial platform and surrounding a
grand central plaza 215 feet long by 155 feet wide, where a nightly sound
& light show is presented in Spanish and English. Although the buildings
are not connected, the obvious entrance is through a huge corbelled arch
in the center of the South Building. The South and North Buildings are
each 170 feet long. The East Building is 156 feet long, and the West
Building, the youngest of the four, with its feathered serpent (Kulkulcan)-decorated
stone façade, is 177 feet long. This indicates a Toltec/Aztec intrusion
(referred to as “Mexican”) in the otherwise pure Maya Puuc style. The
Mexicans called the feathered serpent Quetzalcoatl, the Maya called it
Kukulcan, but it’s the same.
The Governor’s Palace, built on a huge stepped platform, was probably
the residence of the most important members of the ruling class. It gives
the extraordinary visual effect of movement with its rain-god masks
jutting from the friezes, and the remarkable filigree formed by over
20,000 mosaics on the façade.
The Temple of the Turtles sits on the same enormous tiered platform as
the Governor’s Palace. A row of carved stone columns circle it and resting
atop them is a narrow band of stone from which carved stone turtles
protrude at regular intervals. It is 33 feet wide and 96 feet long.
 The Great Pyramid sits to the southwest of the Governor’s Palace.
Covered with debris and brush-choked for centuries, the grandeur of this
monumental work has emerged via the shovel and trowel of the archeologist.
Also known as the Dwarf’s House, it is closely tied to the legend of the
magician. Its 75-step steep stairway faces north and is flanked with Chacs.
Since the view from the summit overlooks most of Uxmal, it’s a favorite
spot for photographers. The large, impressive Chac in the interior may
have been a throne.
One can also visit the Ball Court and the recently restored Dovecotes’
Quadrangle, with its four buildings facing a small plaza (66 x 200 feet),
the Platform of the Stelae, the Cemetary Group, House of the Old Woman,
Temple of the Phalli, and other ruins.
At the southern edge of Uxmal sits a most interesting arch which faces
south from the city. The Arch of Uxmal marks the end of a sacred road or
causeway (sacbe—pronounced sahk-BAY, meaning “white road”) that leads 14
miles to the ancient city of Kabah. The construction of a Maya road, or
sacbe, was a fantastic feat for a people living in their own stone age.
Some Mayan roads were over 30 feet wide and often rose several feet off
the ground; most were remarkably straight and ran for miles through the
jungle. The shoulders were of rough stone, the bed constructed of large
boulders topped with smaller stones. Lastly, the entire road was surfaced,
or plastered over, with limestone cement, making them “white roads.”
To the northeast of the Platform of the Stelae lies the North Group.
Unexcavated as yet, it contains at least one structure in the Chenes style
of architecture. If you’re curious about what ruins look like before
archeological restoration takes place, visit the North Group.
|
