The ruins of Uxmal have been regarded as the most important in Yucatan,
partly on account of the edifices that remain standing, but chiefly
because they have been more visited and explored than the others. It is
supposed, and circumstantial evidence appears to warrant the
supposition, that this city had not been wholly deserted at the time of
the Spanish Conquest, although it had previously begun to be a ruin. It
was wholly a ruin in 1673. The area covered by its remains is extensive.
Charnay makes it a league or more in diameter; but most of the
structures have fallen, and exist now only in fragments scattered over
the ground. It may be that many of them were not built wholly of hewn
stone, and had not "Egyptian solidity" with their other characteristics.
The most important of those remaining was named "Casa del Gobernador" by
the Spaniards. It is 320 feet long, and was built of hewn stone laid in
mortar or cement. The faces of the walls are smooth up to the cornice.
Then follows, on all the four sides, "one solid mass of rich,
complicated, and elaborately sculptured ornaments, forming a sort of
arabesque." Figure 36 gives a view of the south end of this edifice, but
no engraving can show all the details of the ornamentation.
[Illustration: Fig. 36.--Casa del Gobernador, Uxmal.]
This building has eleven doorways in front, and one at each end, all
having wooden lintels, which have fallen. The two principal rooms are 60
feet long, and from 11 to 13 feet wide. This structure is long and
narrow The arrangement and number of the rooms are shown in the
following ground plan of the building (Figure 37):
[Illustration: Fig. 37.--Ground Plan of Casa del Gobernador]
[Illustration: Fig. 38.--Double-headed Figure, Casa del Gobernador.]
[Illustration: Fig. 39.--Decorations over Doorway, Casa del
Gobernador.]
It stands on the summit of one of the grandest of the terraced
foundations. This foundation, like all the others, is pyramidal. It has
three terraces. The lowest is 3 feet high, 15 wide, and 575 long; the
second is 20 feet high, 275 wide, and 545 long; the third, 19 feet high,
30 wide, and 360 long. Structures formerly existed on the second
terrace, remains of which are visible. At the northwest corner one of
them still shows its dilapidated walls, portions of them being
sufficiently complete to show what they were. This edifice was 94 feet
long and 34 wide. It seems to have been finely finished in a style more
simple than that of the great "casa" on the upper terrace. The figures
of turtles sculptured along the upper edge of the cornice have given it
the current designation, "House of the Turtles." Sculptured monuments
have been found buried in the soil of the second terrace. The opening of
a small, low mound situated on it brought to view the double-headed
figure shown in No. 38. Figure 39 shows part of the sculptured
decoration over the centre doorway of Casa del Gobernador.
Another important edifice at Uxmal has been named "Casa de las Monjas,"
House of the Nuns. It stands on a terraced foundation, and is arranged
around a quadrangular court-yard 258 feet one way and 214 the other. The
front structure is 279 feet long, and has a gateway in the centre 10
feet 8 inches wide leading into the court, and four doors on each side
of it. The outer face of the wall, above the cornice, is ornamented with
sculptures. The terrace without and within the inclosure was found
covered with a very dense growth of vegetation, which it was necessary
to clear away before the walls could be carefully examined. All the
doorways, save those in front, open on the court. Mr. Stephens found the
four great facades fronting the court-yard "ornamented from one end to
the other with the richest and most intricate carving known to the
builders of Uxmal, presenting a scene of strange magnificence which
surpasses any other now seen among its ruins." The long outer
structure, on the side facing the entrance, had high turret-like
elevations over each of its thirteen doorways, all covered with
sculptured ornaments. This building appears to have inclosed another of
older date. Figure 40 shows the ground plan of "Las Monjas."
[Illustration: Fig. 40.--Ground Plan of Las Monjas, Uxmal.]
Other less important edifices in the ruins of Uxmal have been described
by explorers, some of which stand on high pyramidal mounds; and
inscriptions are found here, but they are not so abundant as at Palenque
and Copan.