Uxmal

Wikipedia gives a construction date of around AD 700 and an abandonment in the 13th century. The present name may derive from a phrase meaning three times built, although the etymology is disputed. UNESCO inscribed the site in 1996, alongside the nearby sites of Kabah, Sayil and Labna.

Puuc buildings have smooth, low walls topped by ornate friezes that imitate traditional Maya huts, with columns standing for reeds and trapezoidal shapes standing for thatched roofs. Masks of the rain god Chaac, often with entwined snakes and long noses, are a recurring motif.

The best-known building is the Pyramid of the Magician, a five-level stepped pyramid. Its layers have oval or elliptical outlines, which is unusual among Maya structures, which mostly use rectangular plans. A newer pyramid was built over an older one, so the older temple survives on the west side. The common name comes from a folk tale popularised by John Lloyd Stephens in 1841, in which a dwarf, helped by his mother, a witch, built the pyramid overnight. Local tradition also describes Uxmal as an invisible city built in one night; this is legend rather than history.

The Governor's Palace is a long, low building on a huge platform, with what Wikipedia describes as the longest facades in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. Its orientation has been linked to the movements of Venus, and its facade has nearly 400 Venus glyphs in Chaac masks. The Nunnery Quadrangle, dated to roughly AD 900 to 1000, was named in the 16th century because it resembled a convent. Four palaces on different levels surround a courtyard and their facades are elaborately carved inside and out.

Wikipedia reports that the Governor's Palace orientation, at roughly 118 degrees, points toward the small pyramid of Cehtzuc about 5 kilometres to the southeast, and from there Venus as an evening star at its northernmost extreme would have set behind the northern edge of the palace, an event that recurs about every eight years around the start of the rainy season. The palace covers more than 1,200 square metres, and eight two-headed serpents sit above the main entrance.

A large ball court at Uxmal bears an inscription saying it was dedicated in 901, though it is now badly deteriorated and its original stone rings have been replaced with reproductions. Sylvanus Morley produced a map of the site in 1909, and the Mexican government began a first protection project in 1927. In 1930 a Tulane University expedition made plaster casts of the Nunnery facades, and a Mexican repair and consolidation programme began in 1936.

Uxmal is a common excursion from Merida and is often visited with other Puuc sites. A private tour with a driver and guide allows time to explore the larger structures and understand the stories attached to them.