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Tulum Ruins

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Tulum Ruins

The Mayan ruins of Tulum is the third most visited historical site in all of Mexico, behind Teotihuacan (located on the ourskirts of Mexico City) and Chichen Itza (in Merida, Yucatan). The ruins were built around 1200 AD as the Mayan civilization declined, and they ruins are structurally less impressive than Chichen Itza or even Uxmal and much less extensive, they have the azure Caribbean as a backdrop. Because the area is small and there is comparatively little climbing involved, you can gain a fair appreciation of the ruins in a couple of hours.

For those unable or unwilling to tackle the walk from the parking lot, about 10 minutes away, a shuttle now provides easy access (for a small fee). The modern and shiny-clean visitors' center at the car park houses numerous souvenir shops in addition to cafeterias, refreshment stalls, toilets and telephones.

The huge number of tourists visiting Tulum today belies the fact that as recently as the 1960s the site was accessible only by sea. In fact this was how the Spanish came across the city during Juan de Grijalva's expedition of 1518, at which time it was - uniquely among the Maya cities - still inhabited. Grijalva reports of the fortifications and buildings painted red white and blue, and compares the city favorably in size and stature to Seville.

There are three major structures of interest: El Castillo (the tower which dominates the area and is perched on the cliff edge), The Temple of the Frescoes and The Temple of the Descending God.

El Castillo is the result of several phases of building. Steps lead to an upper temple featuring columns decorated with plumed serpents as seen in Chichen Itza and an indication of Toltec influence. It would also have been used as a watchtower, with visibility over land and sea. Beneath El Castillo is a small but perfect beach, where the Mayans would have landed their canoes.

The Temple of the Descending God is to the left of El Castillo when looking out to sea. Above the door of the temple is a stucco relief of a figure prevalent at Tulum, the upside-down winged god that also shows bee-like features. This figure is sometimes referred to as the "diving god" because of its position and the resemblance to a bee signifies the importance of honey to the Mayans.

The Temple of the Frescoes lies between El Castillo and the entrance to the site. Here fragments of color can be seen on murals depicting Maya life. Amongst the frescoes is a portrayal of a man on a horse, which indicates that these drawings were still being worked on after the Spanish invasion. (The horse was introduced by the Spanish and clearly had a disarming effect on the Mayans - originally it was thought that horse and rider were one being and later, when one of Cortés's horses died, its skeleton was worshipped as a god).

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