Uxmal is pronounced “Oosh-mahl”. The place name is Pre-Columbian and it is usually assumed to be a Maya language phrase meaning “Built Three Times”
When discovered, Uxmal was in better condition than many other Maya sites thanks to being very well built.
Much was built with well cut stones set into concrete to hold the building together. The Maya architecture here is considered matched only by that of Palenque in elegance and beauty. The architecture is the Puuc style.
Some of the more noteworthy buildings include:
The Governor’s Palace, a long low building atop a huge platform, with the longest façades in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica.
The Adivino or Pyramid of the Magician, a fine pyramid temple unusual. The layers of the step pyramid are oval, rather than the usual rectangular shape. It was a common to build new pyramids over older ones, but here a newer pyramid was built slightly east of the older pyramid,. On the west side the old temple is preserved, with the newer temple above it.
The Nunnery Quadrangle is the finest of Uxmal’s several fine long buildings with elaborately carved façades
A large Ballcourt for playing the Mesoamerican ballgame, which an inscription indicating it was dedicated in 901 by the ruler Chan Chak K’ak’nal Ajaw, also known as Lord Chac.
Oother temple-pyramids include House of the Birds, House of the Turtles, Grand Pyramid, House of the Doves,
The majority of hieroglyphic inscriptions are on a series of stone stelae unusually grouped together on one platform. The stelae carvings show the ancient rulers of the city.
Uxmal - Palacio del Gobernador, originally uploaded by Jahmarcos.
