As you enter the Zona Arqueologicia, the highest building in the region, El Adivino, The Pyramid of the Magician, (38 m, 125 ft.) stands before you. The legend states that it was built in a single night by a dwarf, aided by his mother, a witch. Archaeological excavations reveal that the pyramid (really temple) is actually five superimposed structures that were built and rebuilt over a period of three centuries.

One of the large iguanas that were found among the stome piles surrounding the Pyramid of the Magician and elsewhere at Uxmal.

The Governor's Palace is considered by some to be the finest example of pre-Hispanic architecture in the western hemisphere. The building is set on a large platform on a terrace. It is 98m (322 feet) long, 12 m (39 feet) across and 8 m (26 feet) high. There is a central structure with two wings flanking two corbelled vaulted corridors which were later closed off by cross walls. This was one of the last buildings to be built at Uxmal and has been dated at 900-915 A.D. or 1000-1050 A.D.

Because the Governor's Palace was built on a natural rise, you can look back toward the northeast to see El Adivino rising above the trees and also see the Nunnery Quadrangle.

This building has 26 rooms with eleven entrances opening off the courtyard. The frieze has decorations of Mayan huts, monkeys and snakes. There are four towers, each having four stacked Chac masks.

The beautiful pyramid known as El Castillo or The Pyramid of Kulkulkán has been very well restored. It is a square based structure over 25m (80 feet) high, having nine terraces and four staircases., supposed to represent the nine heavens and the four cardinal points. Each staircase has 91 steps for a total of 364 steps. If the final step up to the summit platform is included, there is one step for each day of the year. On each of the staircases is a large snake's head. The staircases ascend at an angle of 45° . At the end of the ascent, on top of the pyramid, is the corbel vaulted Temple of Kulkulkán.

The alignment of the pyramid was accurately planned to align with astronomical phenomena. At the spring equinox, the play of light and shadows formed by the pyramid on one of its staircases, and ending at the large serpent's head at the base of the staircase, shows the descent of the serpent god, Kulkulkán from his temple, a sign that it is time to plant the corn.

El Caracol is one of the most interesting buildings at Chichén Itzá. Apparently it was an observatory. The name, meaning snail in Spanish, referring to the spiral stairway within the building. It is the only round structure found here.

For many years, before its function was demonstrated, it was considered an anomaly, a mistake. The architecture was so out of keeping with the general Mayan architectural style that it was considered one of those architectural "mistakes" that crop up from time to time. More recent studies of the site, including accurate measurements of the lines of sight provided by the door and window openings in the structure, demonstrate that the building was accurately constructed to allow observations of astronomical phenomena which, in turn, influenced the cultural and agricultural life of the community.

The Nunnery Annex was covered with masks of the rain god, Chac, but the curving snouts were long since gone. A few snouts remain on the higher level masks on the facades of the Nunnery itself, seen on the righthand side of the picture.

Within the temple are murals supposed to depict a battle between the Mayas and the Toltecs. The ballcourt is the largest found in MesoAmerica. The large grassy court (85m [280 feet] x 35m [115 feet] ) was bounded by two high walls. On the walls, midway down the court, are high (7m [22 feet]) stone rings through which the players were supposed to send a hard rubber ball, using only their knees, elbows and hips. Since the ball was a symbol of the sun, it was not allowed to touch the ground. To do so would be to interrupt the symbolic course of the sun across the sky. The losing players were sacrificed. Relief panels along the walls show these players being led to the sacrifice.

Here El Castillo is viewed through a few of the Warrior Columns at the Temple of the Warriors.

Columns were an an architectural device not known to the Mayans, until contact with the Toltecs. There are no columns used in the pure Puuc architechure found at Uxmal. That is one of the things, besides its smaller size, that gives Uxmal its intimate atmosphere. It is not known what purpose the Group of A Thousand Columns served. It was presumably roofed over originally. The columns are all covered with relief sculptures of figures of warriors.

The columns, in the Group of a Thousand Columns, are carved with images of Warriors, all in shallow relief.