The archeological site of Uxmal is often compared with that of Chichén Itzá. If the ruins of Uxmal are less impressive, they are on the other hand more beautiful in some connections and purer in their Maya style, since without the mixture of elements toltèques which one finds in Chichén Itzá. Uxmal was an important city between Vlle and IXe centuries, at the same time as Palenque and Tikal. Its Maya name means “rebuilt three times”; the archaeologists however could determine five periods of construction.
The image of Cha' ac, the god of water, often appears on the masks and sculptures, an obvious reflection of the lack of water in this sector, the only part of Yucatán where hills are found. On the site, you will be able to admire complex stone mosaics, interesting planks on the upper part of the walls and the lines of columns and arched arches.
At the entry of the site, the pyramid del Adivino (pyramid of the Soothsayer), high, 40 m rests on an oval basis of form. One goes up there by a rather stiff, but flanked staircase of a slope. The top offers an excellent point of view on the remainder of the site.
In the vicinity the court of the Convent is, a series of four temples who face a central court. These temples are decorated with masks, of images of snakes and geometrical reasons. The four buildings on the whole comprise 74 rooms which, according to the archaeologists, formed either a residential palate or a royal or military school.
In the south of this unit the vestiges of a set of balls are then the large one and elegant palate of the long Governor of almost 100 m and who avoids geometrical reasons made up of more than 20.000 stones carved. One can moreover distinguish images of snakes and human faces.
Very close to the palate, the house of the Tortoises is, thus named because of the sculptures which decorate its cornice, and the Large Pyramid, which was restored only partially, whose roof is bored small niches probably intended for astronomical observations.
The abandonment of Uxmal seems due to the lack of water, but that remains one of the many assumptions.
With approximately 8 p.m., a spectacle of sound and light are proposed. You will be able to find at the entry of the site of the helmets allowing you to listen to the comments in French and other languages.