A Photographer’s Guide to Uxmal
By Eric Seale
Seldom Scene Photography, Inc.
Smashwords Edition
Copyright and Other Legalities
Copyright © 2011 Seldom Scene Photography, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide, including resale rights. You are not allowed to give or sell this eBook to anyone else, in whole or in part. No part of this book shall be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without written permission from the author.
Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and author do not assume, and hereby disclaim, any liability or responsibility for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions in this guide, even if such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident, or any other cause.
This guide is written for individuals pursuing recreational activities. As all such activities inherently contain an element of risk (limestone steps, for instance, are notoriously slippery when wet), the publisher, author, affiliated individuals and companies disclaim any responsibility for any injury, harm, or illness that may occur to anyone through, or by use of, the information in this book.
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Connect with me online:
Seldom Scene Photography Blog: http://seldomscenephotography.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/argos_ssp
Google+: https://plus.google.com/106981140015528751412
Appendix A – An introduction to Maya history
Appendix B – Architecture of Maya ruins
Appendix C – References and other material
This eBook is one in a series of guidebooks written and published by Seldom Scene Photography, Inc. I wrote them to help photographers (whether professional or amateur) make the most of their time at a variety of Maya ruins, as well as to help you decide just how much gear (and what gear) you need to take in order to accomplish your goals.
This eBook is not intended to be a full-fledged tour guidebook, so you won’t find information about local hotels, quaint shopping areas, exciting exotic local events, etc. It’s also not an archaeology or history book, so I’ll give you just enough of this material to help you put your surroundings in context.
But every eBook in the series will give you...
• A short list of sights to see if time is tight
• Tips on items of interest in the ruins, particularly things that may not be so obvious
• Enough historical and cultural background to help you make sense of what you see
• Suggestions on what lenses and other photographic gear you might want to take
Should you need a bit of background information about Maya history and architecture, please refer to the appendices, which briefly cover this material. Also note that supplemental material for this eBook (including expanded versions of the appendices, and essays on travel to the tropics) is hosted on the Seldom Scene Photography website. See Appendix C for more on this topic.
Since the countries now sited on Maya territory use the metric system (as does the majority of the globe), this eBook gives preference to metric units. I also, though, include imperial equivalents in parentheses for the convenience of fellow U.S. residents.
This eBook includes example images of the structures seen at this site. For each, I’ve identified the camera settings used when making the photograph, as well as the lighting conditions at the time (full sun, bright shade, etc.). Note that I specify lens focal length in terms of a full frame (35 mm) equivalent; if you’re using a DSLR with a cropped sensor, you’ll need to do the math appropriate to convert this to your camera’s system.
Uxmal was the greatest of the Maya cities in the Puuc region, and has some of the best-preserved examples of Puuc-style architecture. It’s known that the site’s name is an ancient one, but its derivation is uncertain. Some sources feel it derives from the Mayan for “thrice built” -- apparently in reference to the multiple construction phases of its tallest structure, the Pyramid of the Magician. It was common for the Maya to build temples on top of older ones, but in this case five (not three) layers of construction have been found.
Uxmal has many things to recommend it -- scale (covering more than 10 square kilometers / 4 square miles), stunning architecture, and spacious views. Meanwhile it is easily reached from either Mérida or Campeche, but still isn’t as crowded with visitors as some better-known sites.
Uxmal is 78 kilometers (48 miles) south of Mérida on highway 261, about an hour’s drive. It’s a longer but still manageable drive from Campeche -- 150 kilometers (93 miles), just short of two hours’ drive. Note that gas is not available at Uxmal, but there are numerous stops along the way for gas and water. Thanks to the size and fame of the site, the route to it is well marked once you get somewhat near it.
Buses run from Mérida to Uxmal along Highway 261 every day -- but when you’re ready to head back to Mérida, passing busses may be full. Driving is easy enough, and the roads are well maintained, so I’d recommend you visit by rental car if you can. Tours from Mérida are also available, but they all seem quite short, so I can’t recommend that option if you can avoid it.
If you have a GPS navigator, the coordinates for the Uxmal visitor’s center are 20°21.626’N, 89°46.0407’W.
The entrance has a restaurant, gift shops, and bathrooms. The site is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; the entry fee (in 2011) is M$111, which includes a light and sound show and entrance to a small onsite museum. The show is presented in Spanish, but you can rent a headset for audio in any of a number of other languages. The show time changes seasonally, ask about it at the ticket desk. Parking costs an extra M$10; if you leave the site and return for the light show, you’ll need to pay for parking twice. Use of a camcorder requires an extra fee of M$45, paid at entry.
These prices are current as of 2011; for updates, please see the INAH’s web page at http://www.inah.gob.mx/index.php/zonas-arqueologicas. It’s in Spanish, but easy to figure out even if you don’t know much of the language.
Climbing on many of Uxmal’s ruins is no longer permitted. Signs and ropes will tell you for sure when something is off limits. Meanwhile, remember that Mexico treats its Maya ruins as outdoor museums -- so tripods are not allowed without first paying a fee, and filling out a significant amount of paperwork in person in Mexico City.
Uxmal’s major plazas are kept cleared -- this is good for photography, but also means that there’s not much shade on the site. You’ll need to take a good wide-brimmed hat, and carry plenty of water with you (you can buy some at the entry, but there’s no opportunity to get any elsewhere on the site).
It's likely that at least a scattering of people lived at Uxmal as early as 600 BC, although the major structures are far more recent. Like the other Puuc sites, Uxmal flourished in the Late Classic period between 600 and 1000 AD. At its height, Uxmal was one of the largest cities of the Yucatán peninsula, and home to about 25,000. It’s thought that Uxmal’s rulers may have also presided over the nearby settlements in Kabah, Labná and Sayil.
A visitor can track the broad history of Puuc sites like Uxmal through developments in their local architecture (see also Appendix B). The earliest architecture you’ll see at Uxmal belongs to the Early Puuc style (circa 670 - 770 AD), built with plain walls with just a decorative band over doors. The majority of Puuc structures were built in one (or sometimes both) of two later closely related styles, occasionally grouped together as “Puuc Classic” architecture. Colonnette architecture (770 - 830 AD), also labeled “Junquillo” (reed) style in Spanish and possibly derived from Chenes and Río Bec architecture to the south, features column-shaped veneers on upper and lower walls. Mosaic style (830 - 1000 AD) includes some Colonnette features along with façades built from mosaic pieces, often reflecting themes from central Mexico. Structures built with a mix of Colonnette and Mosaic features are generally labeled as Intermediate architecture. The last architectural innovations in the Puuc in the form of Late Uxmal architecture (1000 - 1050 AD) were confined to Uxmal, and show increasing influence from central Mexico (particularly in the use of serpent imagery, phallic symbols, and carved columns) before major construction in the area abruptly halted.
Relatively few stelae have been found at Uxmal (and those in existence are severely eroded), so less is known of its dynastic history than is the case for other sites. Uxmal’s only historically known king was a man named Chan Chak K’ak’nal Ajaw. He came to the throne in the latter part of the ninth century, but his dated monuments only span a few decades (895 - 907). Sometime after about 1000 AD, major construction stopped at Uxmal and the city’s population declined dramatically.
Uxmal’s relationship with Chichén Itzá is both poorly understood and controversial. They may have started out on good terms. But since Uxmal’s decline seems to be coincident with the rise of Chichén Itzá under Toltec rule, it’s likely that they became economic competitors (if not necessarily also military adversaries). At some point after 1000 AD (likely shortly after it had been abandoned by its previous occupants), princes of the Xiu clan took over Uxmal, later speciously claiming to have founded the city centuries earlier. Along with the Itzá and Cocom lineages of Mayapán, the Xiu Maya formed the “League of Mayapán” in the 12th century. But Uxmal was by then no longer prominent enough to join the confederation, which collapsed 100 years later when Mayapán turned on and destroyed Chichén Itzá.
By the time of the Spanish conquest of Yucatán (in which the Xiu allied themselves with the Spanish), Uxmal’s population had again declined significantly. Early colonial documents suggest that Uxmal was still inhabited into the 1550s, but no Spanish town was built here and Uxmal was soon after permanently abandoned. Still, it never became a “lost” city, unlike what happened to many other Maya sites.
In 1835, the eccentric “Count” Jean Frederic Waldec explored and started documenting the ruins. Unfortunately, his account of the site (Picturesque Travel to Yucatan, 1838) was largely fanciful, and so of limited usefulness. In 1840 and again in 1842, Stephens and Catherwood explored the site; their reports drew a surge of visitors to the Puuc (and included the first accurate drawings and measurements of the ruins).
The first systematic excavations of Uxmal started in 1930, conducted by Tulane’s Middle American Research Institute, led by Franz Bloom. In the 1930s and 1940s, Harry E. D. Pollock of the Carnegie Institution conducted an in-depth architectural of the Puuc and Chenes regions; meanwhile Sylvanus Morley (also of Carnegie) continued excavations.
Mexico’s INAH began work at the site in 1927, focusing on restoration of the site’s key structures. By the 1950s, most of the major buildings were open to the public.
Uxmal is more formally oriented than are many smaller Maya cities. As is often the case for Classic era sites, Uxmal’s city core is made up of a series of open plazas surrounded by monumental buildings. These plazas tend to be oriented along a line a few degrees east of true north. Architectural styles cover the gamut, from a few structures (on the far north end of the site) in Early Oxkintok (550 - 600 AD) style, to a number of large and refined structures in Late Uxmal (1000 - 1050 AD) style.
Uxmal as a whole spread out over at least 10 square kilometers (4 square miles), but may have been twice that size. The actual city center covers 16.5 hectares (41 acres) and is surrounded by a low wall -- given the low height of the wall, and the large number of openings in it, it’s unlikely to have been of much defensive use, and may have primarily served to remind the common folk that they were only visitors when they ventured “downtown.”
The site is spread out over a wide area, and there’s plenty to see. You can see the major sights in a half-day or so, but a full day (or better yet, a day and a half) would allow you to see things at a more comfortable pace. If you’re pressed for time, you’ll at least want to see the Pyramid of the Magician, the Nunnery Quadrangle, the Governor’s Palace, and the Great Pyramid. Note that while the Pyramid of the Magician takes its name from a Maya legend, the rest of the structures here were named by the Spanish and largely have fanciful names.
(Adivino, House of the Dwarf)
The first building seen after entering the site is a big one. The Pyramid of the Magician is 31 meters (102 feet) high, 85 meters (279 feet) wide, and its elliptical base makes it unique in the Maya realm.
According to Maya legend, the pyramid was built by a magical dwarf that hatched from an egg and was raised by a witch. The ruler of the land, fearing the dwarf's powers, ordered him to build the pyramid within a day or die. The boy succeeded in this and other challenges, and became the new ruler.
In reality, the structure consists of five buildings, one superimposed on top of another. Maya structures were commonly built directly on top of old ones, but the last version of the pyramid is built slightly to the east of its predecessors. It took about 400 years to complete all five phases of construction, ending in the late tenth century.
The most recent temple is the one on top -- Temple V, a beautiful but hard to photograph example of Late Uxmal (1000 - 1050 AD) architecture. Staircases partially cover some earlier temples, including Temple I at the west base of the pyramid. A tunnel excavated by archaeologists can be seen mid way up the east stairs. This leads through the bulk of the pyramid to the second and third temples, still buried inside. The west stairs lead over Temple I to Temple IV's doorway, built in the form of a Chenes-style monster mouth (see Appendix B).
Pyramid of the Magician, from northeast
EXIF: 28 mm, f/8, 1/1250 sec., ISO 200 (full sun)
You first approach the pyramid from the back (east), but the best view of the building is from its west side. You can’t climb the pyramid’s steps any more, but at least you can move around it freely, so you’re not very constrained in that sense. If you’re in Uxmal at sunset, you'll have the opportunity for great photography of both summit temples from the west side (try from front of the Nunnery Quadrangle’s North Building, with the longest lens you’ve got).
(Nunnery Annex)
As you walk around the north end of the pyramid, you walk past the foundations of some very early structures, and then come to this fairly rough looking building. It’s near the Nunnery Quadrangle but not really associated with it -- the North Long Building was built well before its more famous western neighbor. It started out as two separate buildings, built in two different eras. The south half of the building was built in Proto-Puuc style (600 - 670 AD), while the north half was built in Intermediate style (770-1000 AD). Each of the two originally consisted of two long rooms. At some point, the vaulted passageway between the two was walled off at its west end.
Long North building from east
EXIF: 14 mm, f/7.1, 1/800 sec., ISO 200 (sun and bright shade)
The building faces east, although that’s not immediately apparent since most of the structure’s south half and the front part of its north half have collapsed. Still, on its east face you can explore the passageway and the interior door of the north half of the building.
The Nunnery Quadrangle consists of four long rectangular buildings bounding a central courtyard 64 meters (210 feet) long and 45 meters (148 feet) wide. It has 78 rooms, of which 35 open directly on the central plaza.
The Nunnery Quadrangle from the north (4-image panorama)
EXIF: 28 mm, f/11, 1/500 sec., ISO 200 (sun and bright shade)
The architecture is a mix of Mosaic (830-1000 AD) and Late Uxmal (1000 - 1050 AD) styles, with plain lower walls and ornate upper walls hosting geometric designs, masks, and serpents on a latticework background. Each of the four structures has a unique façade, and each is built on a different level. Most of the ornamentation on the buildings is on the sides facing the central courtyard. It’s a great place for photography of architectural details with a long lens.
The sixteenth century Spanish historian Fray Diego López de Gogullado gave the quadrangle its name when he decided it resembled a Spanish convent. But given the buildings’ formal entries and lack of domestic features, the Nunnery was likely an administrative complex of some kind. The layout of the complex is thought to reflect Maya cosmology (see Appendix B). The main (formal) entrance to the quadrangle is a passageway through the South Building, but you can enter at any corner since the four buildings aren’t connected.
The North Building is the oldest, as well as the largest and highest of the four. It’s also considered the most architecturally important of the four buildings. Sitting on a 5.5 meter (18 foot) high terrace, you reach this building by stairway from the courtyard. A repaired monument (Stela 17) is set in the midst of the stairs; a carved date on it corresponds to 895 AD. Eleven doorways face the courtyard; each provides entry to a pair of rooms. One room with one external doorway is on each of the building’s east and west ends.
Nunnery North Building, Temple of Venus
EXIF: 20 mm, f/11, 1/500 sec., ISO 200 (sun and bright shade)