UXMAL—CASA DE MONJAS.
Between two and three hundred yards north from the Casa del Gobernador, is the Casa de Monjas, or Nunnery, marked C on the plan. This is perhaps the most wonderful edifice, or collection of edifices, in Yucatan, if not the finest specimen of aboriginal architecture and sculpture in America. The supporting mound, whose base is indicated by the dotted lines m, n, o, p is in general terms three hundred and fifty feet square, and nineteen feet high, its sides very nearly facing the cardinal points. The southern, or front, slope of the mound, about seventy feet wide, rises in three grades, or terraces, three, twelve, and four feet high, and twenty, forty-five, and five feet wide, respectively, from the base. There are some traces of a wide central stairway leading up to the second terrace on this side, but none of the steps remain in place.
On this platform stand four of the typical Yucatan edifices built round a courtyard, with unequal intervals between them at the corners. The southern building is two hundred and seventy-nine feet long, twenty-eight feet wide, and eighteen feet high; the northern building, two hundred and sixty-four feet long, twenty-eight feet wide, and twenty-five feet high; the eastern, one hundred and fifty-eight by thirty-five feet, and twenty-two feet high; the western, one hundred and seventy-three by thirty-five feet, and twenty feet high.[V-34] The northern building stands on a terrace of its own, which rises about twenty feet above the general level of the main platform on which the others stand. The court formed by the four edifices measures two hundred and fifty-eight by two hundred and fourteen feet. It is two feet and a half lower than the foundations of the eastern, western, and southern buildings, and traces of low steps may yet be seen running the whole length of the sides. Its area is paved with stone, much worn by long usage. M. Waldeck, by diligent research or by an effort of his imagination, found that each of the forty-three thousand six hundred and sixty blocks composing the pavement was six inches square, and had the figure of a turtle sculptured on its upper surface. Stephens could find no traces of the turtles, and believes that the pavement was originally covered with cement.[V-35] In the centre are the fragments of a rude column, picote, or phallus, like those found in connection with the Casa del Gobernador and Casa de Palomas. M. Charnay also found traces of a straight path with raised borders leading north and south across the centre, and also two of the dome-shaped cisterns already described.[V-36]
The situation of the four structures forming the quadrangle, and the division of each into apartments, are shown in the accompanying ground plan.[V-37]
Ground Plan of the Nunnery.
Interior of Room—Casa de Monjas.