I just loved this city...all the buildings are painted with this amazing yellow ochre...then trimmed with white...so fresh so clean (but still so hot)....It is only about 70 kilometres from Merida...it played a big part in the Spanish conquest around the 1500s...but it has been around a way lot longer than that...It is one of the oldest of the Mayan cities and dates back to around 300BC and was a thriving city which reached its peak around 600BC
The largest of the pyramids there covers around 11 acres...mostly ruins now though...and the city of Izamal is built on top of those ruins...which means there cannot be any excavation work done to see what life was like for those living in Izamal at that time...
After the Spanish Conquest the Franciscan Monks started to build a monastery there in 1549-1561 and they used the stone from the pyramids to build that monastery which they built on the site of the Temple of the sun god Kinich-Kakmo... ...The reason they built the monastery on the actual site of the original Mayan Temple was because the people of Izamal were an idol worshipping and human sacrificing people so they thought this would prove to them that Christianity was a greater influence for good and to do away with such a blood thirsty form of worship...
This is still a working monastery ..with monks making pilgramiges here to commit to their religion ...a life long dream to work in this monestery for some of them....so why wouldnt they wasnt to stay until they die...it will still be and active monestery until last of the monks who are living there ... die (and they are old ...the ones we saw ther were anyway!!!)...and there was a mass being held the day we visited...so i cant show you an pics for the richly adorned chapel.... we did peek inside while the service was going on....this monastery has survived fires, been rebuilt in the damaged sections and still stands today as a magnificent memorial to the Spanish monks who labored to build it so many centuries ago... (I am sure they were assisted by some very willing Mayan people as well)
beautiful hand made bright red coloured tiles... and hand painted wall adornments ... I adore the mexican bravado with colour...anything goes ..and what's more it is acceptable in Mexico...
Hand painted murals from the 1500s..still visible today..although faded ... depicting the life of the monks who lived at the monestery...still very like they are today.
We just stepped back in time for a moment really....
The same Cobble stone still in use after 4 centuries of being walked on by monks and Mayans and ME
The Spanish plaque on the monastery...(haven't a clue what it says!!! Anyone read Spanish???)
ME , Bethan and that's David with the pram ...the red ochre doors wher entrances to and from the monestery...
These horse drawn carriages were waiting to take visitors on a tour of the city...
All the arches of the Monastery..they go around three sides of the square which make up the monestery.... Apparently Pope John the 2nd visited in 1993 and there was a sculpture of him in the grounds...i didn't see it ...but i am told it is there...
New concrete paving mixed with the old stone cobbling...Mexicans live life so close to the street just behind those windows and doors....
I loved the Yellow City
Such a beautiful place
ReplyDeleteI really like the first photo Nettie. I'd love to visit these places one day. Better start saving my pennies. Between you and Hannah Challis I have discovered a lot of places to see for my self!
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