In Puuc architecture (such as in Uxmal) buildings were decorated with carefully cut veneer stones set into a concrete core.

The lower portion of the façades is blank with a flat surface of rectangular blocks punctuated by doorways, while the upper façade is richly decorated with intricate stone mosaics, often alternating repeated geometric elements with more elaborate figurative sculpture.

Long-nosed masks (commonly believed to be of the Maya rain god Chaac) are found on many Puuc buildings.

Beyond the impressive decorative elements of Puuc architecture, the use of a concrete core is also considered an architectural advance beyond the earlier Maya technique of using larger stones (set on top of one another in lime and mud mortar) for structural support.

The concrete core-veneer masonry allowed for slightly larger and more stable interior rooms. Many corbelled vaults in the Puuc style remain to stand, even when most of the veneer stones have fallen away.

The most famous of the Maya sites exhibiting the Puuc architectural style is Uxmal, other major Puuc-style sites in the region include Labna, Kabah, Sayil, and Xlapak.

This architectural style is also seen at Kiuic, Bolonchen, Chunhuhub, Xculoc, and many smaller ruins.

The transition from earlier Classic Period architecture to Puuc-style core-veneer masonry is well documented at the site of Oxkintok. To the south, the style can be found in Edzná; and to the east at Chichen Itza (outside of the Puuc Hills region).

Puuc Biocultural State Reserve, also known as Kaxil Kiuic Reserve was designated in 2011. It covers an area of 1358.93 km².

The reserve was created to protect the region’s archeological sites and its biodiverse flora and fauna. The reserve is home to 247 birds, 63 mammals, 52 reptiles, and 14 amphibian species. Five species of large felines, including jaguars, live in the reserve.

The site is located in the karst limestone hills of the Puuc region of the northern Yucatan Peninsula.

Sayil is located 7 km south of the contemporary Puuc archaeological site of Kabah, 5 km from Xlapak, and 5 km from Labna. It was built in a shallow valley among low, steep hills.

The Puuc region that includes the site of Sayil possesses well-defined wet and dry seasons and is characterized by a near absence of surface water due to the porous limestone bedrock.

Sayil first was settled circa AD 800, in the Late Classic Period, possibly by small Chontal warrior groups.

The city reached its greatest extent c. 900, when it covered an area of approximately 5 km² and had a population of perhaps 10,000 in the city itself with an additional 5,000–7,000 living in the surrounding area.

At the height of the city’s occupation, the population reached the limits of the agricultural carrying capacity of the land, with crops grown in gardens and fields among the residential complexes and irrigated from artificial cisterns built to store water from the seasonal rains, and more distant fields in neighboring valleys, probably were cultivated.

Additional agricultural produce probably was supplied from nearby satellite sites.

Sayil began to decline c. 950 and the city was abandoned by c, AD 1000, a pattern of rapid growth and decline that probably was typical of the Puuc region.

Archaeologists have surveyed 2.4 km² of the site, revealing an average structural density of 220 structures/km². Population estimates have been produced based on a count of structures, giving a result of 8,000–10,000 spread over an area of approximately 3.5 km².

Population estimates based on a count of subterranean storage chambers known as chultuns produce a figure of 5,000–10,000. Both estimates refer to the maximum population in the Terminal Classic.

Political, economic, social, and religious leadership at Sayil appears to have been distinct and relatively decentralized.

Economic rank has been analyzed based on an architectural scale, while political leadership was determined based on the distribution of so-called altars, and tall cylindrical stone features with elite associations.

The distribution of religious leadership was determined by the distribution of ceramic incense vessels and social leadership by the presence of rare ceramics obtained via intercommunity social alliances.

Smaller sites around Sayil, such as Sodzil, Xcavil de Yaxche, and Xkanabi, may have been tributary communities.

Sayil and other Puuc sites are thought to occupy an important place in the transition from Classic Period Maya culture to Postclassic society, experiencing a brief cultural florescence during the Terminal Classic, shortly after the Classic Maya collapse had depopulated the Maya lowlands.

The brief occupational history of the site has raised the possibility that Sayil developed from an earlier settlement known as Chac II, a small archaeological site in the same valley that was occupied as early as the fifth century AD.

Radiocarbon and obsidian hydration dating place Sayil relatively early in the Terminal Classic.

Ceramic remains recovered from the Palace indicate trade with the Petén region of Guatemala during the Late Classic, and the Guatemalan origin of obsidian artifacts suggest that Classic-period trade routes were dominant when the monumental architecture at Sayil was built.

Although Sayil’s origins lie in the Late Classic, the Terminal Classic saw the period of most rapid expansion.

Various C-shaped structures around the Mirador Complex and the structure of the terrace of the Great Palace are evidence of continued occupation after the abandonment of the monumental structures of the site core and there was a brief period of continued occupation in the residential parts of Sayil.

The primary phase of occupation at the site appears to have been 800 to 950 AD (Late to Terminal Classic) with some kind of reoccupation after the abandonment of the city.

The site first was brought to the attention of the outside world by John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood, who explored the site in 1841 and published an illustrated description in their 1843 book Incidents of Travel in Yucatán.

Archaeological investigations

The Mexican Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia carried out restoration work at Sayil in the first half of the twentieth century.

Archaeologists have mapped 3.5 km² of the site’s urban core. Jeremy Sabloff of the University of Pennsylvania and Gair Tourtellot carried out archaeological investigations that included architectural and topographic mapping, household-scale excavation, and intensive surface collections at Sayil from 1983 to 1988 when they were affiliated with the University of New Mexico.

The site features abundant and widely distributed surface artifacts and to study the organization of the community, from 1990–1992, Michael P. Smyth and Christopher D. Dore conducted a systemic large-scale surface collection of artifacts at a 25-meter interval across the entire site area.

Nearly 30,000 ceramic fragments were recovered (representing 99% of all artifacts recovered) and 155 lithic artifacts, of which 90% were chert with the remainder being basalt, obsidian, and limestone.

The obsidian artifacts recovered from Sayil derive largely from the El Chayal source in what now is southwest Guatemala, a distant site in Mesoamerica situated in the volcanic highlands on the Pacific coast that conducted extensive trade of the material throughout Central America.

Site description

The site is laid out along a sacbe, or causeway, running from north to south. The Great Palace stands at the northern end of the causeway, it is the largest and most well-known building at Sayil.

The Great Palace has an 85-meter-long facade and is built upon a two-terraced platform, giving the impression of three stories. Various rooms are arranged around the four sides of each terrace.

The uppermost terrace supports a long structure with a single range of rooms.

The palace was built in various phases through an unknown period in the Terminal Classic; wings were added and platforms were designed, which were filled with stones and mortar to increase stability.

The palace has a central stairway on the south side, giving access to the upper levels of the building.

The first and second levels of the Great Palace contain substructures that were demolished to build the surviving building. The first level overlies a substructure that dates to the Late Classic.

The causeway runs south from the Great Palace to a complex located 350 m to the south, which consists of a group of structures with multiple rooms. The building known as El Mirador is located in this complex.

It is a badly damaged temple pyramid with a prominent crest, it faces southward. It consists of a half-collapsed two-room building on top of a substructure. There is a phallic sculpture of an unknown date near the Mirador Complex.

From the Mirador Complex, another causeway runs 200 m southeast, then turns south to continue to a major group containing a ballcourt and several palaces, some 2 km south of the main palace.

Close to the halfway point of this section of the causeway, there is a small platform upon which were found the remains of eight stelae and seven plain altars. This stela platform represents a type of structure common among major sites of the eastern Puuc region.

The remains of various other structures lie on both sides of the causeway system, with the majority located to the west.

Structure 3B1 is notable for an interior doorway decorated by a band of hieroglyphs. Structure 4B1 has a central doorway with two carved columns supporting carved capitals and three sculptured lintels.

Puuc-style columns are a recurring motif at the site.

Another palace group stands on a hilltop to the north of the causeway system, overlooking the site core. Domestic architecture at the site consisted of over 300 perishable structures built upon underlying masonry foundations, some of which have been excavated.

The site is managed by Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH) and is open to visitors.

Chac II

Chac II is a small site located about 2 km from the Great Palace, in the northwestern corner of the Sayil Valley.

In the Terminal Classic, Chac II was a part of the greater Sayil urban area.

However, Chac II predates the Terminal Classic occupation of Sayil with various dating methods (including radiocarbon, obsidian hydration, ceramic, and architectural dating) demonstrating that Chac II thrived in the Early to Middle Classic and participated in a trade network linked to the great metropolis of Teotihuacan in the distant Valley of Mexico.

Chac II probably did not lose its dominance of the Sayil Valley until toward the end of the Late Classic and it is possible that Sayil was founded by the Chaac II elite, becoming a massive urban expansion of the earlier site.

Monuments

Several monuments have been dated by Tatiana Proskouriakoff based on their sculptural style, with Stela 6 dated to circa AD 810 and both Stela 3 and Stela 5 dated to a little later in the ninth century.

The stelae of Sayil are Classic in style, depicting individual nobles who probably were rulers of the site, however, power in Sayil was likely to have been shared to some degree.

Mérida is located in the northwest part of the state of Yucatán, which occupies the northern portion of the Yucatán Peninsula.

The city is also located in the Chicxulub Crater. It has a very flat topography and is only 9 m above sea level.

The land outside of Mérida is covered with smaller scrub trees and former henequen fields. Almost no surface water exists, but several cenotes (underground springs and rivers) are found across the state.

Climate

Merida features a tropical wet and dry climate. The city lies in the trade wind belt close to the Tropic of Cancer, with the prevailing wind from the east. Mérida’s climate is hot and its humidity is moderate to high, depending on the time of year.

The average annual high temperature is 33°C, ranging from 28°C in January to 36°C in May, but temperatures often rise above 38°C in the afternoon during this time.

Low temperatures range between 18°C in January to 23°C in May and June. It is most often a few degrees hotter in Mérida than in coastal areas due to its inland location and low elevation.

The rainy season runs from June through October, associated with the Mexican monsoon which draws warm, moist air landward. Easterly waves and tropical storms also affect the area during this season.

Mérida was named after the Spanish town of the same name.
It is the largest of the four cities in the world that share the name Mérida, the other three being in Spain, Venezuela, and the Philippines.

Mérida has been nicknamed “The White City” (La Ciudad Blanca), though the exact origin of this moniker is not clear.

Some explanations include the common color of its old buildings painted and decorated with “cal” (though anyone visiting modern Mérida can see that buildings are not all white nowadays) or the fact that the residents keep the city particularly clean.

There were three Spanish conquistadors named “Francisco de Montejo”:

• Francisco de Montejo “el Adelantado” (“The Lieutenant”, the eldest)
• Francisco de Montejo y León “el Mozo” (“The Boy”, his son)
• Francisco de Montejo “el Sobrino” (“The Nephew”)

Mérida was founded in 1542 by Montejo y León (“el Mozo”) and named after the town of Mérida in Extremadura, Spain.

It was built on the site of the Maya city of T’hó, which was also called Ichkanzihóo or Ichcaanzihó (“City of Five Hills”) in reference to its pyramids. T’ho had been a center of Mayan culture and activity for centuries: because of this, some historians consider Mérida the oldest continually occupied city in the Americas.

Carved Maya stones from ancient T’ho were widely used to build the Spanish colonial buildings that are plentiful in downtown Mérida and are visible, for instance, in the walls of the main cathedral.

Much of Mérida’s architecture from the colonial period through the 18th century and 19th centuries is still standing in the historic center of the city. From colonial times through the mid-19th century, Mérida was a walled city intended to protect the Peninsular and Criollo residents from periodic revolts by the indigenous Maya.

Several of the old Spanish city gates survive, but modern Mérida has expanded well beyond the old city walls.

Late in the 19th century and the early 20th Century, the area surrounding Mérida prospered from the production of henequén. For a brief period, around the turn of the 20th century, Mérida was said to house more millionaires than any other city in the world.

The result of this concentration of wealth can still be seen today. Many large and elaborate homes still line the main avenue called Paseo de Montejo, though few are occupied today by individual families.

Many of these homes have been restored and now serve as office buildings for banks and insurance companies. Korean immigration to Mexico began in 1905 when more than a thousand people arrived in Yucatan from the city of Incheon.

These first Korean migrants settled around Merida as workers in henequen plantations.

Mérida has one of the largest centro histórico districts in the Americas (surpassed only by Mexico City and Havana, Cuba).

Colonial homes line the city streets to this day, in various states of disrepair and renovation; the historical center of Mérida is currently undergoing a minor renaissance as more and more people are moving into the old buildings and reviving their former glory.

In August 1993, Pope John Paul II visited the city on his third trip to Mexico. The city has been host to two bilateral United States – Mexico conferences, the first in 1999 (Bill Clinton – Ernesto Zedillo) and the second in 2007 (George W. Bush – Felipe Calderón).

In June 2007, Mérida moved its city museum to the renovated Post Office building next to the downtown market. The Museum of the City of Mérida houses important artifacts from the city’s history, as well as an art gallery.

Mérida hosted the VI Summit of Association of Caribbean States, in 2014.

Mérida is the cultural and financial capital of the Yucatán Peninsula, as well as the capital city of the state of Yucatán. In recent years, important science competitions and World events have been held in Mérida – FITA Archery World Cup Finals, the International Cosmic Ray Conference, a Physics Olympiad, etc.

Mérida has a “centro histórico” (“hisctoric center”) typical of colonial Spanish cities.

The street grid is based on odd-numbered streets running east/west and even-numbered streets running north/south, with Calles 60 and 61 bounding the “Plaza Grande” in the heart of the city.

The more affluent neighborhoods are located to the north and the most densely populated areas are to the south.

The “Centro Histórico” area is becoming increasingly popular with Americans and other expats who are rescuing and restoring the classic colonial structures.

Historic sites

• Monumento à la Patria (1956)
• Palacio de Gobierno (1892)
• Catedral de San Ildefonso (1598), first in the continental Americas
• Barrio y Capilla de Santa Lucía (1575)
• Barrio y Templo Parroquial del antiguo pueblo de Itzimná
• Barrio y Templo Parroquial de San Cristóbal (1796)
• Barrio y Templo Parroquial de San Sebastián (1706)
• Barrio y Templo Parroquial de Santa Ana (1733)
• Barrio y Templo Parroquial de Santa Lucía (1575)
• Barrio y Templo Parroquial de Santiago (1637)
• Capilla de Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria (1706)
• Capilla y parque de San Juan Bautista (1552)
• Casa de Montejo (1549)
• Antiguo convento de Nuestra Señora de la Consolación (Nuns)(1596)
• Iglesia del Jesús o de la Tercera Orden (Third Order) (1618)
• Templo de San Juan de Dios (1562)

Mérida has served as the American Capital of Culture in the years 2000 and 2017.

Each year, the MACAY Museum in Mérida mounts a new sculpture installation, featuring works from Mexico and one other chosen country. Each exhibit remains for ten months of the year. In 2007, sculptures on Paseo de Montejo featured works by artists from Mexico and Japan.

For English speakers or would-be speakers, Mérida has the Mérida English Library, a lending library with an extensive collection of English books, videos, tapes, and children’s books. The library is also the site for expatriate meetings, children’s storytelling hours, and other cultural events.

Mérida is also home to the Yucatan Symphony Orchestra, which plays regular seasons at the Jose Peon Contreras Theatre on Calle 60 and features classical music, jazz, and opera.

Cultural centers

• Centro Cultural Andrés Quintana Roo, in Santa Ana, with galleries and artistic events
• Centro Cultural Olimpo. Next to the Municipal Palace in the Plaza Grande
• Casa de la Cultura del Mayab, the Casa de Artesanías (house of handcrafts) resides there. It’s in downtown Mérida
• Centro Estatal de Bellas Artes (CEBA). Across the El Centenario, offers classes and education in painting, music, theater, ballet, jazz, folklore, and Spanish dance, among others
• Centro Cultural del Niño Yucateco (CECUNY) in Mejorada, in a 16th-century building, with classes and workshops specifically designed for kids
• Centro Cultural Dante is a private center within one of the major bookstores in Mérida (Librería Dante)

Museums

• Gran Museo del Mundo Maya, Yucatán’s Mayan Museum, offers a view of Yucatán’s history and identity
• Museo de Antropología e Historia “Palacio Cantón”, Yucatán’s History and Archaeology Museum
• Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Ateneo de Yucatán (MACAY), in the heart of the city right next to the Cathedral. Permanent and rotating pictorial expositions
• Museo de la Canción Yucateca Asociación Civil in Mejorada, honors the trova yucateca authors, Ricardo Palmerín, Guty Cárdenas, Juan Acereto, Pastor Cervera y Luis Espinosa Alcalá
• Museo de la Ciudad de Mérida, in the old Correos (post office) building since 2007 offers information about the city from the prehispanic times’ Tho’ or Ichcaanzihó to current days
• Museo de Historia Natural, natural history museum
• Museo de Arte Popular, a popular art museum, offers a view of popular artistry and handcrafts among ethnic Mexican groups and cultures
• Museo Conmemorativo de la Inmigración Coreana a Yucatán

Major theaters with regular shows

• Teatro José Peón Contreras
• Teatro Daniel Ayala Pérez
• Teatro Mérida (Now Teatro Armando Manzanero)
• Teatro Colón
• Teatro Universitario Felipe Carrillo Puerto
• Teatro Héctor Herrera

Mérida and the state of Yucatán have traditionally been isolated from the rest of the country by geography, creating a unique culture. The conquistadors found the Mayan culture to be incredibly resilient, and their attempts to eradicate Mayan tradition, religion, and culture had only moderate success.

The surviving remnants of the Mayan culture can be seen every day, in speech, dress, and in both written and oral histories. It is especially apparent in holidays like Hanal Pixan, a Mayan/Catholic Day of the Dead celebration.

It falls on November 1 and 2 (one day for adults, and one for children) and is commemorated by elaborate altars dedicated to dead relatives. It is a compromise between the two religions with crucifixes mingled with skull decorations and food sacrifices/offerings.

Merida is a perfect city to stay there for a while exploring the surrounding areas in daily tours on your own or guided ones.

Suggested 1-day tours from Merida:

• Uxmal + Kabah
• Uxmal + Kabah + Sayil + Xlapak + Labna + Chacmultun (Puuc Route)
• Acanceh + Mayapan
• Ake + Izamal
• Mani
• Dzibilchatun
• Progreso + Xcambo
• Celestun + Ria Celestun
• Chichen Itza

For more information about all these suggested places to visit and how to get there, use the search form on our website or related tags.

Bus

City service is mostly provided by four local transportation companies: Unión de Camioneros de Yucatán (UCY), Alianza de Camioneros de Yucatán (ACY), Rápidos de Mérida, and Minis 2000.

Bus transportation is at the same level or better than that of bigger cities like Guadalajara or Mexico City. Climate-controlled buses and micro-bus (smaller in size) are not uncommon.

The main bus terminal (CAME) offers first-class (ADO) and luxury services (ADO PLATINO, ADO GL) to most southern Mexico cities outside Yucatán with a fleet consisting of Mercedes Benz and Volvo buses.

Shorter intrastate routes are serviced by many smaller terminals around the city, mainly downtown.

Taxis

Several groups and unions offer Taxi transportation: Frente Único de los Trabajadores del Volante (FUTV) (white taxis), Unión de Taxistas Independientes (UTI), and Radiotaxímetros de Yucatán, among others. Some of them offer metered service, but most work based on a flat rate depending on the destination.

Competition has made it of more common use than it was years ago.

Taxis can be either found at one of many predefined places around the city (Taxi de Sitio), waved off along the way, or called in. Usually, a taxi will respond and arrive within 5 minutes.

Another type of Taxi service is called “Colectivo”. Colectivo taxis work like small buses on a predefined route and for a small fare. Usually accommodating 8 to 10 people.

Uber also offers services in Merida

Air

Mérida is serviced by Manuel Crescencio Rejón International Airport with daily non-stop services to major cities in Mexico (D.F, Monterrey, Villahermosa, Cancún, Guadalajara, Tuxtla Gutierrez, Toluca) and international (Miami, Houston, La Havana) and usually receiving charter flight services to and from Europe and Canada.

Also, there is a good amount of freight and cargo planes moving in and out. As of 2006, more than a million passengers were using this airport every year, (1.3 in 2007) and it is under ASUR administration.

Train

There is a passenger train service to the city. The Meridano train runs from Mexico City to Merida.

Roads

Main roads in and out of Mérida:

• Mérida-Progreso (Federal 261), 33 km long with 8 lanes. It joins the city with Yucatán’s biggest port city, Progreso
• Mérida-Umán-Campeche (Federal 180), connects with the city of San Francisco de Campeche
• Mérida-Kantunil-Cancún (Federal 180), 4 lane road that becomes a Toll road at kantunil. It joins Mérida with Chichén Itzá, Valladolid, and ultimately Cancún
• Mérida-Tizimín (Federal 176) connects Mérida with Tizimín (2nd. largest city in Yucatán)
• Mérida-Teabo-Peto is known as Mundo Maya Road Carretera del Mundo Maya, its utilized in both the “convent route” Ruta de los Conventos, and linking the ancient maya city of Mayapán and Chetumal, the state capital of Quintana Roo