General Information

The entire structure is comprised of the North, South, East, North and Western buildings and the Courtyard..

The Nunnary Quadrangle is located on the west side of the Pyramid of the Dwarf the most visible structure in the city due to its size. An upper temple on the west side of the Temple of the Dwarf overlooks this square courtyard. Wedged between the Nunnary Quadrangle and the Dwarf's pyramid is a smaller courtyard called the Court of the Birds. The key entrance to the Nun's Quadrangle is actually located on the south side of the structure and is intended to be entered through the Corbelled arch on this side, though the ruined state of the city today makes it possible to enter the courtyard through many of the corners and holes in the structure. The inscriptions of the Nunnary tell us that it was built and dedicated by King Chan-Chak-K'ak nal-Ahaw (also known as Lord Chak) who is credited with shaping most of the city of Uxmal that we see today.

There are essentially four buildings that make up the sides of the complete structure and each one will be described briefly. All four are on slightly different levels and vary from one another in specific form and design. The southern building is the lowest of the four and has 9 doorways. The east building has 5 doorways and sits on a low platform placing it midwat up the overall layout. The west building has 7 doorways and sits on the same platform as the eastern building, and the "key" portion of the structure appears to be the northern building. It is the first one visible as you approach the arched entry way, has 11 doorways, and is flanked on either side by smaller buildings that frame the unique stairway leading up to the building.

The South Building

The capstone from the southern building is very battered and worn, but the date appears to be 12 Kawak 16 Xul or 10.3.17.3.9 or April 23 906. This is the building that holds the Mayan Corbelled Archway that is the main ceremonial entrance to the courtyard encompassed by the Nunnary. From inside the complex then there are 4 decorated doorways on either side of this entrance that all lead to a single small room. At some point in the years after its completion the cities builders added one small double roomed temple to each eand of the main structure. Exactly the same designs grace both the northern and southern facades of this southern building. Along the longest axis of each side the structures design break it into three long sections. Typical of Puuk design, the lowest portion, surrounding the doorways, is plain stone with minimal design flare. The upper molding shows small flower designs at regular intervals that are called Itz, and refers to any number of sacred fluids like nectar, tree sap, candle wax or morning dew. Itz also means "To Make Magic" so it turns the southern building into a place where magic was made. To the ancient Maya this house would be known as a Itzam Nah, or a "Conjuring House".

Each of the eight doors has a sculpture over it called a Xanil Nah, which was essentially a stone representation of a the thatched roof hut that the Maya used as living quarters. The thatched roofs are shown as being blown by the wind. These stone huts are overlapping a cross-hatched design similar to overlapping long parallel poles in an "X" pattern to signify the house as having a special function. The southern structure is the only one of the four to have doorway access on both the side facing the inner courtyard and the outer structures. The other buildings only open up facing the courtyard.

In front of the lattices each hut has a zoomorphic monster headon top of each roof. The features of the face are non-specific, but there is maize growing out of the top of each head. This maize seems reminiscent of designs found in Palenque, Tikal and Copan where these houses are called Na Te'-K'an, or "First Tree Precious" and show us that the maize trees represent the reborn maize god and the place where the gods first formed humans out of maize dough (as found in the Myth of Creation). This is the theme that archeologists believe is being brought forward in the southern building.

The East Building

The east building has a painted capstone in the north-west room that tells us this building was dedicated on 5 Imix 17 K'ank'in in tun 18 of K'atun 12 Ahaw, or 10.3.17.12.1 or October 2nd 906. This building is the closest structure to the Pyramid of the Dwarf to the east and sits on a platform level with the median molding on the south building. There are 5 doorways to this structure leading into small double-chambered rooms (an outer room and an inner chamber). The central door accesses a larger inner series of 5 smaller rooms.

All the moldings on this structure include repeating cylindars in their design, while the medial and upper moldings have three dimensional serpent heads at all four corners and also over the larger central door facing the courtyard. Just like in the southern building, this structure's frieze include Itz flowers that encompass the entire building indicating that this structure is also a "House of Magic". The lattice pattern is repeated here also and interrupting the pattern in the center and on the corners is a stack of three masks. Historically these masks have been called Chaak masks because of their long hooked noses similar to known Chaak images from Chichén Itzá and the Codz Pop, however here in Uxmal, Chaak was not known for his long nose and these stone representations lack some of the standard characteristics commonly associated with a true Chaak mask such as earflares. Archeologists are putting forth the theory now that these masks represent the Great Bird Itzam-Ye or Mut-Itzamna that sat on top of the world tree. With the hooked nose actually representing the angled beak. The presence of the Great Bird God adds to the power of these structures as Itzam Nah or as a "House of Sorcery".

Over the outermost door pairs, and overlapping the latticework, is an interesting pattern of double headed serpents that form a "V" shape. An interesting interpretation of these designs comes from the modern Maya word for a stick basket called wood cribbing used to store and carry dried maize. The Yucatan people of today call this basket kan che or "Snake Wood".

In the upper portion of the Kan che design there are mosiac masks with symbols representing crossed javelins behind them. These odd masks are composed of various symbols representing shells, jewels, spear thrower darts and feathers. An odd device covers the "nose" and a tongue emerges from the mouth hole. If the outer symbols are spearthrower symbols, then the center figure may be an "Arrow Shield" known to be used by the Maya

The West Building

The west building sits on the same platform level as the eastern building so that its middle molding aligns with the baseline of the key northern building. A long stairway runs along the length of the structure and empties out into the courtyard. It has seven doorways all leading into double interior rooms in the same fashion as the eastern building. When originally discovered in the 19th century, only 2 small portions of this building survuved. A portion between doors #2 and 3, and a slightly longer section over door#6. Archeologists over the years have taken what they know of the Maya, along with photographs and pictures from other sites and other explorers, and essentially pieced the buildings together like a large jigsaw puzzle, from the stone fragments near the structure. The small surviving sections gave them an indication of the completed design theme and gave them the "starting point" they needed to complete the restoration. Alberto Ruz (the man who discovered the Tomb of Hunab-Pakal at Palenque) completed most of the earlier renovations of the Nunnary and this building, and noted that though having fallen, several whole sections remained more or less intact on the ground under the location where they fell making the current restoration an accurate configuration.

As with the other buildings, there are remanants of Itz flowers along the upper molding. The background of the upper portion of this building has more variety of design than the eastern and southern buildings. A latticework background supports flowers and square spiraling Muyal or "Cloud" scrolls marking this building as a community or cloud house. There are jaguar masks as well as two small man shaped figures between doors 1 & 2 and 6 & 7. The man shaped figures are both naked with short sticks penetrating their thighs and penises which was a Mayan form of bloodletting for sacrifice. They may have been captives prepared for sacrifice. Spanning the length of the building on the upper carvings is a representation of the feathered serpent Ku'kul'kan. The ends of the huge snake show a human head emerging from the mouth of the serpent and was drawn by Frederick Catherwood when he and John Stephens discovered the ruins in 1845. There are also three stacked masks over doors 2 & 6 which, as mentioned above, are the Itzam-Ye birds, and may also be represented in the form of a small man with a feathered cape, a loin cloth and a bird mask.

The Court

In the center of the Nunnary courtyard stands the remains of a small building. It had walls on three sides and the open side faced towards the west building. This style of "C" shaped buildings was common throughout the Maya lowlands in the Terminal and late Post-Classic periods. It was likelt added to the courtyard late in the life of Uxmal, perhaps even after it was abandoned as a main ceremonial site. Alberto Ruz discovered a Sac Beh, or "White Road" leading from the center of the court to the arch in the southern structure. In the center court he found a ruined altar near a shattered jaguar carving and a large column shaft. This combination of column shaft, jaguar and an altar occurs in front of the House of the Governor which means it was built by the same king. The column represents the world tree or Wakah-Kan. The jaguar throne represents the Jaguar-Throne-Stone that was placed in the cosmic hearth (under the belt of Orion) in 3114 BC at the moment of the fourth creation. The Jaguar-Throne-Stone was the first stone placed in the Myth of Creation. The small north-east building that appears in the courtyard (on the right hand side of the stairs under the north building) also has a painted capstone similar to the one in the East building, that records a date of 4 Eb 5 Keh, or 10.3.18.9.12 or Aug 9, 907 and records the dedication of this building by Chan-Chak-K'ak nal-Ahaw about a year after the east building was dedicated.

The North Building

The north building ersts on the highest platform in the quadrangle. There are eleven doorways facing the courtyard with one more doorway in either end to bring the total to thirteen doors, all leading to double roomed interior chambers. This building is the key to the entire structure evidenced by its high position, the presence of smaller sub-structures on either side of the staircase that leads up to it, and by the sheer number of symbols and religious carvings surrounding its upper layers. The background pattern is a collection of flower lattices and clous scrolls. The cross hatch pattern is made of jagged lines so that each triangle that it form where it overlaps appears to produce a flower and it is believed to be a Nikte'il nah, or "Flower House", or may be called a Popal-Nah or "Mat House". Either way it is a community house where the cities people met to discuss affairs of state and that it was also marked as a flower house that would have been used for council meetings and for public dancing at festivals. As seen in other buildings there are representations of wind-swept thatch houses with additional sculptures of double headed serpents. Under toe front door pictured in these stone houses sits a small jaguar throne. Unlike most jaguar thrones these images are not double headed as two entwined tails are clearly visible.

Stone masks sit atop the houses that again are representations of Itzam-Ye, meaning the houses are Itzam-Nah. These Itzam-Nah masks have another mask over them with large ringed eyes that are read as ch'ok, or "Young Person" or "Sprout" which indicate this northen building was unique in that it was also a Lineage House. There are many other carvings imposed over the flower lattice. Naked bound captives with exposed genitals next to conquering warriors, Quetzal birds, and sacrifice images where prisoners had their penises pierced to offer blood, the most sacred Mayan offering, to their gods.

Astronomer Ian McGregor of the Royal Ontario Museum also points out that the face of the Nunnery Quadrangle at Uxmal contains 584 crosses in its decoration and that the planet Venus has a repreating cycle of exactly 584 days.

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