Uxmal Pyramid of the Magician

A local legend holds that this pyramid at Uxmal rose in a single night, conjured by a magician-dwarf who hatched from an egg and grew to power overnight, which is why it is still called the Pyramid of the Magician, the Pirámide del Adivino. The archaeology tells a slower, no less remarkable story: the elliptical mound was built and rebuilt across many generations, one temple raised over another in a series of superimposed phases. The steep staircase seen here climbs past a stacked column of carved Chaac masks to a Puuc-style shrine of mosaic stonework, its cut limestone glowing against a deep blue sky.