{"id":51574,"date":"2010-06-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-06-17T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/royalresorts.com\/blog\/izamal\/"},"modified":"2021-11-29T22:39:12","modified_gmt":"2021-11-29T22:39:12","slug":"izamal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.royalresorts.com\/blog\/history\/izamal\/","title":{"rendered":"Izamal"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

Did you know that Yucat\u00e1n has its very own city of gold? Visit Izamal, Yucat\u00e1n\u2019s very own pueblo m\u00e1gico, literally \u201cmagical community,\u201d a title it earned as a result of its rich heritage. It is a blend of pre-Hispanic and Spanish architecture painted in bright yellow with a white trim, and the traditions of the Yucat\u00e1n.
\nThe earliest traces of human occupation in the Izamal area date back to the third century B.C., making it older than Uxmal and Chich\u00e9n Itz\u00e1, and as the birthplace of the legendary Zamn\u00e1 or Itzamn\u00e1, the head god in the Mayan pantheon, it became an an important shrine in the pre-Hispanic period
\nOver 20 major Mayan buildings have been found in and around Izamal, along with a network of sacbes or roads, house mounds, burials and other traces of human settlement. Five Mayan pyramids on the outskirts of the town have give Izamal its nickname Ciudad de Cerros, \u201cCity of the Hills.\u201d Standing 35 meters high, the largest structure is the Kinich Kakmo pyramid, the third largest building in Mesoamerica in terms of volume.<\/p>\n

The Convent<\/strong>
\nAfter the Spanish Conquest, Franciscan friars capitalized on Izamal\u2019s role as a holy place by building a huge mission on top of the Pap-Hol-Chac temple. Work began on the fortress-like San Antonio de Padua convent in 1553 and the atrium was completed by 1618. It is reputed to be the second largest atrium in the world after St. Peter\u2019s in Rome, and has 75 arches!
\nAs you stroll through the convent, look out for the golden altarpiece, a series of 16th and 17th-century frescos, revealed when a thick layer of plaster was removed during restoration work and the statue of the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception, the patron saint of the Yucat\u00e1n. A small museum documents the history of the convent, the legends associated with the Virgin and the 1993 visit of His Holiness Pope John Paul II to Izamal. It is possible to visit the chapel, the cloisters and see some of the cells. To the east of the convent you can see the remains of the noria or well and the monastery garden.
\nA Light & Sound Show takes place in the convent atrium on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 8 p.m.
\nA statue of controversial cleric, Diego de Landa, stands outside the convent. Guardian of the mission from 1552, Friar Diego de Landa oversaw most of the convent\u2019s construction and installed the statue of our Lady of Izamal. He is famous for an auto da fe in the town of Man\u00ed in 1562 when he burnt 27 Mayan bark paper books called codices and hundreds of clay idols, thus consigning Mayan history and scientific knowledge to the flames. He later wrote Relaci\u00f3n de Cosas de Yucat\u00e1n, an account of the Maya and the Yucatan at the time of the Conquest.<\/p>\n

Exploring Izamal<\/strong>
\nThe tradition of painting the convent yellow began in the Colonial period and gradually caught on in the town. Most of the houses, arches, churches, schools and other buildings including the 18th-century Town Hall, which faces the Convent across the central square, sport the Izamal colors, cheerful yellow with a white trim.
\nYou can explore the town by foot or hire one of the horse-drawn carriages or victorias that wait patiently beside the convent wall. Visit the tiny Community Museum in Calle 31, the colonial churches of San Ildefonso, Los Remedios, Carmen and Santa Cruz and sit in one of the town\u2019s parks or squares and watch the Izamale\u00f1os go about their business.
\nIzamal is a town of craftsmen and several workshops in different neighborhoods are open to the public. You can watch women embroider traditional cotton dresses called hipiles, see how wood carvers and jewelers use native woods, henequen and cocoyol seeds, and find out how a hammock is made. There are also miniatures, papier mache, tinwork and herbal medicine workshops. Ask about the Folk Art Route in the Tourism Office. You can purchase crafts in the town square, at the Izamal Cultural Center and at the Hecho a Mano handicraft store.<\/p>\n

Getting to Izamal<\/strong>
\nIzamal is 268 km\/167 miles from Canc\u00fan; take the toll road or Highway 180 and turn off where indicated.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history"],"yoast_head":"\r\nIzamal - Blog<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.royalresorts.com\/blog\/history\/izamal\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Izamal - 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