Sayil

one of the Maya stelea on the Sayil site in the Ruta Puuc area

Sayil, the Maya site located along the Ruta Puuc, covers a much bigger area than the other three sites visited during our Yucatan trip of 2024, Uxmal, Kabah and Labna. Like the others, it is also Late Classic, 600-900 AD.

It contains one spectacular building, the Grand Palace. It is more than 70 meters wide, with three storeys and a monumental staircase leading to the top floor. The structure is decorated, although less so than other structures in the Ruta Puuc area, and is surrounded by half-columns, as part of the decoration.

the plan of the Sayil site, with the Grand Palace at the bottom, and a long sacbe – road – leading all the way up to the South Palace

From here, a sacbe, an old Maya road, leads further onto the site, past lesser buildings, several stelea, a look-out tower, to the Southern Palace, which is a lot less restored, and much less impressive. Another path leads to the Temple of the Hieroglyphical Jambs, of which we only found very few, indeed, on a doorway. Altogether, if you stick to the Grand Palace, Sayil is an impressive place. Having said so, wandering the rest of the side is good for the Indiana Jones feeling! More here: https://www.themayanruinswebsite.com/sayil.html.

Below are some of my photos.

the Grand Palace of Sayil, three storeys high, monumental stairs, and pillar decoration all around

the half-pillars

and some real pillars, and decoration work

a bit of colour from the plants

What used to be the sacbe, the Maya road, leading from one end to the other in Sayil

the look-out, halfway up the sacbe

the South Palace, smaller, and not as well preserved and/or restored – but with the same half-pillars

another view of the South Palace

the House of the Hieroglyphical Jambs, with right the best visible doorway

and indeed, there are some hieroglyphs on the jambs, the doorway-sides