Uxmal

Schedule

subir Days: Monday to Sunday
Schedule: 8:00am - 5:00pm
Cost: $116.00 pesos (is includes The light and sound show)
Light and sound schedule: On summer 8:00pm, on winter 7:00pm
Light and sound cost: $44.00 pesos

Nota: Los domingos el acceso a las zonas arqueológicas es gratuito para visitantes nacionales, previa indentificación. De lunes a sábado se aplican descuentos para estudiantes y maestros con credencial vigente, personas de la tercera edad con credencial del INAPAM (antes INSEN) tienen acceso gratuito.

Information

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To the south of Yucatan raises spectacularly the archaeological zone of Uxmal, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Known as “the three times built”, it is one of the Mayan culture archaeological zones of most impressive architecture in Yucatan.

It has a tourist center offering all necessary services: an auditorium, crafts, infirmary, information bar and the site Museum in which beautiful and interesting carved stone and ceramic pieces are exhibited.

You can visit every day from 8:00 to 17:00 hours and by night be witness of the light and sound show, where Mayan legends are narrated, at 19:00 hours during the winter schedule and at 20:00 hours, during the summer schedule with translation to seven languages.

Uxmal is located to the southwest, in the direction of Campeche, 80 km from Merida.

History

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Well-known like “the three times built”, from the archaeological zones of the Mayan culture, its architecture is one of the most special and majestic of Yucatan. Its beauty is characterized to have horizontal low palaces and round patios or quadrangles, which are rich in scenery with very detailed sculptures, these made with thousands of small geometric mosaic- polished perfectly fit stones, forming a noneven perfection in all the Mayan zone.

Uxmal, surrounded by legend, myths and anecdotes, is located next to a series of hills that are known with the name of Puuc, that in Mayan language means “mountainous area”, name that later passed to the architectonic style of the sites of that region. Some people say that the tribe of the Xiues founded the city.

It reached his maximum blossoming between 900 years 600 and d.C., corresponding to the classic period yucateco and had a population of 20.000 inhabitants approx.

The land that surrounds the site, allowed the manufacture of chultunes, that were well-like cisterns constructed by the Mayans to store the rainwater, since in this zone the natural wells did not exist. The highly fertile grounds for the agricultural activity, had to give sustenance to these old settlers. The cults to the water, the Earth, to the Sun and Venus, are also present in the direction and the decoration of their structures.

15 groups of buildings, distributed to north and south conform the city, in an extension of approximately two kilometers. Among other buildings, we emphasize: The pyramid of Prophet (or wizard), the Place of the Birds, the Quadrangle of the Nuns, the Ball Game, the Palace of the Governor, the Great Pyramid and the Palomar, and by the North Group, the House of the Old man, and the Cemetery. The great amount and variety of buildings speak of the social complexity in this center of political, economic and religious activities.

The most impressive structure has a height of 35 meters : "House of the Prophet" , in agreement with one old legend, this pyramid was raised by a dwarf in only one night, although in fact it was elevated in five stages and it was designed in such a way that its principal staircase faces to the east, towards the putting of the sun in the summer solstice.

The Convent, another one of its great buildings, was baptized by the Spaniards, who when seeing it, evoked some European convent to them. Probably it was used like school of healers, astrologers and priests.

The Palace of the Governor is an excellent example of work of stone mosaic and most probable is that it could have been made by hundreds of bricklayers and sculptors. Having beautiful sculptures of Chaac, the God of rain, astrological serpents and symbols, it is considered like the most beautiful construction of Middle- America, this because its style and imposing proportions.

The Quadrangle of the Nuns stands out by its magnificent decoration, where they have alternated lambda-type, human lattice windows, figures, serpents, heads of turtles, owls and large masks of the God Chaac.

Some people think that its decay probably happened because of a social revolt that ended the government of the elite. Uxmal, a city with certain subtle air, that just by to contemplate it, can charm its visitors.

Location

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The site is located at 78 Km to the southwest of Mérida city, in the state of Yucatan. To reach to the site, you can take the freeway number 261.

Shows

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From the Cuadrángulo de las Monjas (Quadrangle of the Nuns), a sober set of four extended buildings surrounding a patio, one can see the light and sound show, in which the Mayan legends of the region that gave life to this mystical place are narrated.

Offered daily at 19:00 hours during winter and at 20:00 hours during summer, with simultaneous translation.

Gallery

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