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Uxmal: Nunnery Quadrangle, facade of one of four structures facing a courtyard

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posted on 2017-07-07, 00:00 authored by G. Massiot & cie
The Nunnery Quadrangle, which lies immediately west of the Temple of the Magician, consists of four range structures or multi-roomed buildings. These are renowned for the mosaic friezes on the upper sections of their fa\u00E7ades, which have naturalistic and geometric motifs and Chac masks.\u000a\u000aPre-Columbian Maya site in the Puuc region of the Northern Maya Lowlands of Yucat\u00E1n, Mexico. It flourished c. AD 800-c. 1000, at the end of the Late Classic period (c. AD 600-c. 900) and the beginning of the Early Post-Classic period (c. AD 900-c. 1200), but was also occupied earlier. Among the best-known structures, the names of which are all post-Spanish Conquest attributions, are the Palace (or House) of the Governor, the Temple (or Pyramid) of the Magician (El Adivino) and the Nunnery Quadrangle. The beautiful proportions and design of the Palace of the Governor have long been admired. According to Harry Pollock (1980, p. 242), this 'magnificent building is thought by many to be the finest example of pre-Columbian architecture in the Americas'. The palace, a multi-roomed, rectangular building (c. 100 m long) with a symmetrical layout, sits on a large artificial platform. Puuc style has emphasis on decorated walls above the medial mouldings or cornices, repetitive stone mosaic decorations with stylized geometric or naturalistic designs, stone mosaic masks above doorways, decorated roof-combs and carefully cut stone veneer masonry.

History

Date Created

1910-01-01

Date Modified

2017-07-07

Spatial Coverage

Uxmal Ruins, Yucatán, Mexico: c. 80 km south-west of the modern city of Mérida +20.359444-89.771389 Uxmal Ruins

Temporal Coverage

before or circa 1910

Cultural Context

['Late Classic', 'Maya', 'Postclassic']

Rights Statement

To view the physical lantern slide, please contact the Architecture Library.

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