Landmark North America
Uxmal
Uxmal is the ruin of an old Maya town in Mexico. It has a tall pyramid with rounded sides and long stone palaces. A building there has stone turtles carved on it!
Uxmal is a Maya town in the Yucatán, Mexico, whose main buildings went up between the 700s and 900s. At its height up to 20,000 people lived there. UNESCO calls its buildings the pinnacle of late Maya art and architecture, with a 35-meter pyramid, a long palace and a courtyard of four buildings. It became a World Heritage Site in 1996.
Uxmal, 62 km south of Mérida at the heart of the Puuc hills, grew between the 8th and 10th centuries AD from a farming town into a political and administrative center of up to 20,000 people, then was abandoned after the 10th century. UNESCO, which inscribed it with Kabah, Labná and Sayil in 1996, calls its buildings the pinnacle of late Maya art and architecture.
Photo: Adrian Hernandez, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Discover Uxmal
Uxmal is in Mexico, in a place called the Yucatán.
Long ago, Maya people built a town of stone here. Today we can walk among its pyramid and palaces.
Uxmal lies 62 kilometers south of the city of Mérida, in the Mexican state of Yucatán. It was the center of the Puuc region, an area of low hills, and UNESCO says the region traded goods and ideas with other parts of Mexico.
UNESCO calls Uxmal's buildings the pinnacle of late Maya art and architecture. The World Heritage Site also includes three related towns: Kabah, Labná and Sayil.
The archaeological site lies 62 km south of Mérida, at the center of the Puuc ('hill' or 'chain of low mountains') region, which covers some 7,500 km² of southwestern Yucatán and was, UNESCO says, a center for trade and the exchange of ideas, and probably people, with other parts of Mexico.
Inscribed in 1996 under criteria (i), (ii) and (iii), the property joins Uxmal with the related towns of Kabah, Labná and Sayil. Kabah, second in size in the region, was linked to Uxmal by a sacbe, a raised causeway.
- Where
- 62 km south of Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico
- Main buildings
- 8th to 10th century AD
- People at its height
- up to 20,000
- World Heritage
- inscribed 1996
From farming town to capital
Uxmal started as a small farming town.
It grew into a big town where up to 20,000 people lived. Later, the people moved away.
Excavations and a dating method called radiocarbon dating suggest that its main buildings, including reservoirs for storing rainwater, were built between the 700s and 900s.
In that time Uxmal grew from a farming town into a center of government with up to 20,000 people. A wall was built around the town. After the 900s, its people left.
A 16th-century Maya history, the Books of Chilam Balam, dates Uxmal's founding to the later 10th century, but UNESCO notes that excavation and radiocarbon dating suggest the main structures, including reservoirs for rainwater called chultunoob, were built between the 8th and 10th centuries AD.
In those centuries Uxmal grew from a peasant town into a political and administrative center with up to 20,000 inhabitants. A town wall, UNESCO suggests, reflects conflict, probably with other growing towns that came to contest Uxmal's control of the region; Uxmal was abandoned after the 10th century. Systematic archaeological work began in 1940.
Plain below, carved above
Many buildings here are plain at the bottom.
At the top, they are covered with carved stone patterns, like a puzzle made of stones.
Uxmal's builders used a style called Puuc. The lower half of each front is plain, made of carefully cut blocks broken only by doorways. The upper half is richly decorated with patterns made of many carved blocks fitted together like a mosaic.
Unlike most other towns built in Mexico before the Spanish arrived, Uxmal is not laid out in a regular geometric plan. Its buildings follow the hills of the site and line up with events in the sky, such as the rising and setting of the planet Venus.
UNESCO describes the Puuc facade as two horizontal bands: a plain lower level of carefully dressed blocks broken only by doorways, and an upper level richly decorated with motifs in a very plastic style, its blocks forming a kind of mosaic.
The town is not laid out geometrically, unlike most prehispanic towns; its space is organized in relation to astronomical phenomena, such as the rising and setting of Venus, and fitted to a series of hills. Restorers have used original materials such as lime and limited themselves to consolidation and anastylosis, re-erecting fallen pieces.
A rounded pyramid, a palace and stone turtles
A pyramid here has rounded sides. It is 35 meters high!
One building is decorated with carved stone turtles, and every turtle is different.
The Pyramid of the Soothsayer is 35 meters high and oval in plan. It was built in five stages, one on top of another.
The Quadrangle of the Nuns is four buildings around a large courtyard. ICOMOS calls the long Governor's Palace one of the masterpieces of Maya art. The House of the Tortoises has a row of carved stone tortoises along its top, each one different.
ICOMOS describes the Pyramid of the Soothsayer as 35 m high and elliptical (85 by 50 m) in plan, built up in five superimposed stages from the Late Classic period (AD 700–900); its last stage, Temple V, dates from about 1000–1050.
The Quadrangle of the Nuns sets four buildings, each at a different level, around a trapezoidal courtyard of 65 by 45 m. The Governor's Palace, three elements joined by vaults that ICOMOS calls the highest in the Maya region, has a strictly symmetrical facade with fretwork in its upper story. The House of the Tortoises, on the same terrace, has slender columns and a cornice of carved tortoises, each different.
- Pyramid of the Soothsayer
- 35 m high, elliptical, 85 × 50 m
- Quadrangle of the Nuns courtyard
- 65 × 45 m
- Ball court
- 43 × 10 m
The view from the Governor's Palace
In the photo, we look out from a big stone platform.
Can you find the tall rounded pyramid on the right and the long buildings far away?
The photo was taken on 29 July 2018 from the Governor's Palace, its caption says. On the left stands a stone building whose upper wall is lined with slender columns, like the House of the Tortoises. On the right rises a tall pyramid with rounded sides.
In the distance are long stone buildings, and between them lie low platforms, lawns and green forest. A grassy terrace fills the front of the view.
The photograph (29 July 2018) was taken, its caption says, from the Governor's Palace. At the left is a building with a plain lower story and an upper band of slender columns, matching ICOMOS's description of the House of the Tortoises on the same terrace; at the right rises a tall pyramid with rounded sides, the elliptical form ICOMOS gives the Pyramid of the Soothsayer.
Beyond the grassy terrace lie two long parallel platforms, lawns, forest and, in the distance, long buildings with rows of doorways. UNESCO notes that the site museum was set up in 1986, with new signs and better parking.
Amazing facts
-
One building has a row of carved stone turtles, and no two are the same!
The House of the Tortoises has carved tortoises on its top band, each one different.
The cornice of the House of the Tortoises is decorated with sculptures of tortoises, each different.
-
Uxmal's big pyramid is oval, not square!
The Pyramid of the Soothsayer is oval in plan, 85 by 50 meters at its base.
The Pyramid of the Soothsayer is elliptical in plan, 85 by 50 m, and rises 35 m in five superimposed stages.
-
A raised stone road once linked Uxmal to another town.
Kabah, the region's second-largest town, was joined to Uxmal by a sacbe, a raised causeway.
Kabah, second in size to Uxmal in the region, was connected to it by a sacbe or raised causeway.
-
Uxmal's buildings line up with things in the sky!
Uxmal is not laid out in a grid; its buildings line up with sky events, such as the rising and setting of Venus.
Uxmal's space is organized in relation to astronomical phenomena, such as the rising and setting of Venus, and adapted to its hills.
Words to know
- Maya
- a people of southern Mexico and Central America who built great stone cities long ago
- pyramid
- a building with sloping sides that rise to a smaller top
- archaeologist
- a scientist who studies the past by digging up and examining old things
- reservoir
- a place where water is collected and stored
- causeway
- a raised road or path
- facade
- the front or one outside face of a building
Discovery challenge
-
Who built Uxmal?
Which people built the town of Uxmal?
Uxmal represents the pinnacle of which civilization's late art and architecture?
- The Maya
- The Romans
- The Vikings
Show the answer
The Maya
The Maya!
The Maya, mostly between the 700s and 900s.
Late Maya art and architecture.
-
What shape is Uxmal's big pyramid from above?
What is unusual about the shape of the Pyramid of the Soothsayer?
What plan does ICOMOS give the Pyramid of the Soothsayer?
- Oval
- Triangle
- Star
Show the answer
Oval
Oval, with rounded sides!
It is oval in plan, with rounded ends.
Elliptical, 85 by 50 m.
-
What animal is carved on one of Uxmal's buildings?
Which animals decorate the top of a building at Uxmal?
What decorates the cornice of the House of the Tortoises?
- Tortoises
- Elephants
- Penguins
Show the answer
Tortoises
Tortoises, or turtles!
Tortoises, each one different.
Sculpted tortoises, each different: the House of the Tortoises.
-
How many people lived in Uxmal at most?
Up to how many people lived in Uxmal at its height?
What population does UNESCO give for Uxmal as an administrative center?
- 20,000
- 200
- 2 million
Show the answer
20,000
Up to 20,000!
Up to 20,000 people.
Up to 20,000 inhabitants.
-
In which country is Uxmal?
In which Mexican state is Uxmal?
How far south of Mérida is Uxmal?
- Mexico
- Peru
- Egypt
Show the answer
Mexico
Mexico!
Yucatán, in Mexico.
62 km south of Mérida, in Yucatán, Mexico.
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For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Locate Uxmal in the Yucatán and describe its pyramid, palace and courtyard buildings.
- Explain how reservoirs let a town store rainwater to use later.
- Describe the Puuc style: a plain lower wall and a richly decorated upper band.
Recommended ages: 4 to 17 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- Uxmal's buildings follow the hills and the sky instead of a grid. How is your town laid out?
- Up to 20,000 people lived here, then the town was left. What might make people leave a town?
- Restorers put fallen stones back in place but did not add new decoration. Why might that be a good rule?
Try at home or in class
- Draw a Puuc-style wall: plain blocks at the bottom and a band of repeating zigzag patterns on top.
- Collect rainwater in a container for a week and measure how much you could store.
Key vocabulary: Maya, pyramid, archaeologist, reservoir, causeway, facade
Where these facts come from
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- Pre-Hispanic Town of Uxmal (World Heritage List) , UNESCO World Heritage Centre
- Advisory Body Evaluation: Uxmal (No 791, October 1996) , ICOMOS, via UNESCO World Heritage Centre
- File:Panoramica Uxmal.jpg , Wikimedia Commons
- UNESCO World Heritage List , UNESCO World Heritage Centre (Linked as a reference; site facts come from Wikidata)
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file (public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA); see each media record)
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated November 1, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.