Pyramid of the Magician

Posted on 21 February, 2012 by Eric

The first thing you see once you’re in the gate at the Maya ruins of Uxmal, Mexico:

It’s an impressive structure — although a bit odd for photography. You get a better overall vista from the east side, but the architectural details are better on the west side.

Some years back, you could climb the stairs and either go all the way to the top, or pass through the tunnel partway up (giving you access to older temples now buried in the body of the pyramid). But sadly you can’t climb this structure any more — at least you can get good shots of most of it from the ground. This is actually stitched from two wide-angle shots, with colors tuned up a bit in Topaz Adjust.

Tzompantli

Posted on 19 February, 2012 by Eric

Some details from Chichén Itzá‘s Tzompantli (“Wall of Skulls,” a.k.a. skull rack):

The Tzompantli is a big platform, ringed by these carved skulls in multiple rows — supposedly no two are alike. I processed this monochromatically to help bring out the texture of the surface.

The Great Ball Court

Posted on 13 February, 2012 by Eric

In the Maya ruins of Chichén Itzá, Yucatán, Mexico:

And by Great, they do mean Great — this is the largest ball court in the Maya realm. It’s so large, in fact, that archaeologists think it may not have been useable for the ball game — instead being used for ceremonies associated with the game. Meanwhile, Chichén Itzá has plenty of other (smaller) ball courts that could have been used for the regular game.

The Great Pyramid, Uxmal

Posted on 11 February, 2012 by Eric

Definitely one of the steeper pyramids we saw on our 2011 trip, in the Terminal Classic Puuc site of Uxmal:

As you might be able to tell, kids had no problems with these steps — the bigger ones were racing each other to the top! Regular adults have to do the usual angle-walk up the steps.

You might also notice that this is the only one of the pyramid’s four faces that has been restored. Aside from saving money up front (restoration isn’t cheap), this saves money over the long run too — since once you restore something, you have to maintain it. Restoration also (in a way) destroys — since you can never be 100% sure you’re restoring something exactly the way it once was. So 3/4 of this structure is being saved for future generations of researchers to study and (maybe) restore at a later date.

Palacio Norte

Posted on 7 February, 2012 by Eric

In the Maya ruins of Sayil, Mexico (along the “Puuc Route“):

If you’re looking for Puuc-style architecture, most of its sub-styles can be seen somewhere in this structure — its three levels were built in a mix of Puuc styles over hundreds of years. In the interest of preservation, you can’t go up the front steps any more, but with a decent long lens, you can get good views / shots of all sorts of architectural details even from down on the ground.

You’ll need either a wide lens, or some stitching software to get the whole thing in one image, though. I shot this with a 7 mm lens on my Olympus E-5 — so, equivalent FOV to a 14 mm full-frame setup.

Angels in the Stucco

Posted on 5 February, 2012 by Eric

Stucco decorations on the face of the Acropolis at the Maya ruins of Ek’ Balam:

This stucco is in fantastic shape for its age — in no small part thanks to the fact that it was buried inside the Acropolis pyramid not long after it was built. It’s a tricky photographic subject thanks to the protective thatched roof overhead (the light’s even, but low, all day long), but it’s worth it to preserve this amazing work.

Xlapak’s Palace

Posted on 4 February, 2012 by Eric

Xlapak has just three standing structures — this is the north face of the best of them:

Xlapak is a tiny little Maya site along the “Puuc Route” in Yucatán, Mexico. It’s so small that it may well have been a “suburb” of one of its Puuc neighbors. Still, admission is free, and you can see what there is to see of these ruins in well under an hour — so if you’re ever in “the neighborhood,” it’s worth stopping to check it out.

El Castillo

Posted on 2 February, 2012 by Eric

This is the northwest corner of El Castillo in Chichén Itzá, Mexico:

El Castillo is a bit of a funny thing — half of it has been restored to nearly what it once looked like (or at least, so it’s thought locally — although some writers are skeptical about the accuracy of its current form). Meanwhile, the other two faces have just been consolidated. So if you want a pretty picture of the structure, the north and west sides are the ones to use.

By the way, I’ve got a bunch of Maya shots languishing over in my Flickr stream — so to get them a bit more visibility, I’ll be getting them in blog posts here over the next week or two. Prepare for an onslaught of ruin(s)!