IZAMAL

Izamal, named after Zamná, Maya god associated with the sun. It is also known as the city of three cultures and was a huge ceremonial center older than Chichén Itzá and Uxmal.

Izamal is also known as the City of Hills, for the 12 small hills that break the plain of the environment; it still retains traces of its ancient and enormous power.  There are many pre-Hispanic ruins around its center; and nearby cenotes used for ritual sacrifice can also be found. Of the former four white roads or sacbés that led to allied or subjugated cities, you can still admire two; Aké and Kantunil, which, on clear days, are visible from the top of the pyramid of Kinich Kakmó. 

Besides being a beautiful colonial city, it belongs to the "Magical Towns of Mexico Program". The foremost requirement to qualify as a magical town is to have indigenous communities that still preserve their traditions, magical legends, pyramids, colonial buildings, cenotes, and haciendas. Its unique architectural style, embodied in buildings, shops and houses painted by decree of the council with peculiar ocher makes it a magical place.

Izamal was a powerful ruling center during the Classic Period founded by Zamná, considered by the Maya god of the universe.  Zamná was a priest, who invented writing, books, discovered sisal and it use. The meaning of the word "Itzmal" is precisely "dew of heaven".

The pre-hispanic city was occupied from about the year 300 BC, until very near the time of the Spanish conquest, as Fray Diego de Landa recounts the grandeur of its buildings in his chronicles. Currently, the most important building is the temple of Kinich Kak Moo, or Great Pyramid, noted for its height. The meaning of Kinich Kak Moo is  "Fire Macaw  with solar face", whose interpretation is that the Maya believed that God Kinich descended in the heat of the sun to burn and purify the sacrifices or offerings of the Maya pantheon and he did this using the form of a macaw,

The colonial settlement began with the temple built by the Franciscans on the ruins of a Maya shrine called "Pap-hol-chac."  In the early seventeenth century, the early Franciscan church became the present monastery complex of Our Lady of Izamal.

Izamal is a city developed in three periods of history and retains much of its customs, combining features of its pre-Hispanic past, the colonial period, and present day. In the late nineteenth century was a producer of sisal, which brought great economic benefits to plantation owners.

In 1992, Izamal was visited by Pope John Paul II, who celebrated a memorable Mass in the large atrium above the temple of the Immaculate Conception and the former Convent of San Antonio de Padua. Since then, most of the houses and buildings that decorate its historic center are painted white and yellow: the Vatican colors.

Temple of the Immaculate Conception and the former Convent of San Antonio de Padua

Among the buildings stands the temple of the Immaculate Conception and the former Convent of San Antonio de Padua, an impressive set erected on a pre-hispanic platform that was part of the hill called "Pap-hol-chac", which was virtually destroyed by the Spanish to build the convent at the behest of Fray Diego de Landa, between 1553 and 1561.

The Franciscan cloister is comprised of high, thick walls, accompanied by 75 arches painted in yellow. It has the world's second largest enclosed atrium with over 7,000 square meters, after St. Peter in the Vatican's. Most of the stone cutting which had built the Maya temples was reused to lift this work.

Within this set is the Church of the Immaculate Conception. Its facade is Baroque; and inside stands a neo-Gothic altarpiece which houses the statue of the Virgin of Izamal, brought from Guatemala by Fray Diego de Landa. In this space, during Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays a sound and light show called "The Light of the Maya" is presented.

For the visitor, the various temples, monasteries and chapels that religious orders established in Yucatan framed in its cobblestone and asphalt streets amplify a visual enjoyment of every corner of this great city.

Archaeological Area

Izamal is considered the oldest city in the Yucatan Peninsula. Its archaeological site reveals the greatness of its ceremonial plaza flanked by five pyramids whose remains can still be admired and where ancient Maya performed rituals dedicated to the god Itzamná.  Today you can admire the Temple of Kinich Kak Moo, a pyramid of great height. At its top there is a small square which was possibly used to perform rites and ceremonies dedicated to the deity Itzamná.

Another building is Itzamatul, which had three stages of construction, and Kabul, decorated with stucco masks dedicated to the Maya sun god.

Cultural and Craft Center Izamal

It is housed in a building from the XVI century and has a magnificent crafts museum worth visiting. It also has a shop where art pieces produced by small community workshops in the region, using traditional techniques and materials are sold.