Pyramid of the Magician

The Pyramid of the Magician is the central structure in the Maya ruin complex of Uxmal.[1] Uxmal is located in the Puuc region of Mexico and was one of the largest cities on the Yucatán Peninsula. At its height, Uxmal was home to about 25,000 people. Like other Puuc sites, the city flourished from 600-1000 AD, with the great building period taking place between 700 and 1000 AD. The name Uxmal means 'thrice-built' in the Mayan language, referring to the many layers of construction of its most imposing structure.

The city of Uxmal was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996, as it is considered that the ruins of the ceremonial structures represent the pinnacle of late Maya art and architecture in their design, layout and ornamentation. The Pyramid of the Magician dominates the center of the complex and is located at the entrance to the central court. It is positioned on the eastern side of the city, with its western face overlooking the Nunnery Quadrangle and is situated so that its western stairway faces the setting sun at the summer solstice. l Construction of the first pyramid temple began in the 6th century AD and the structure was expanded over the next 400 years. The pyramid fell into disrepair after 1000 A.D. and was thereafter looted during the Spanish Conquest of Yucatán. The first detailed account of the rediscovery of the ruins was published by Jean-Frederic Waldeck in 1838. Waldeck's account of Uxmal inspired John Lloyd Stephens and his illustrator friend, Frederick Catherwood, to make two extended visits to the site in 1839–1841, to record and sketch the layout of the complex. From his notes, Stephens published his now famous Incidents of Travel in the Yucatan.

Pyramid of the Magician in 1913

Restoration efforts began in Uxmal in the mid-19th century. The Pyramid of the Magician was regularly repaired and maintained during this period. In the early 1970s, a major conservation project was undertaken by archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH - Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia). The aim of this effort was to consolidate the sides and flat terraces of the pyramid, and to improve the structural integrity of the temples. In 1988, Hurricane Gilbert swept across the Yucatán Peninsula, bringing high winds and abundant rainfall to the area which caused extensive damage to the exterior of the pyramid. A post-hurricane examination of the structure revealed cracks that had developed in the walls of the south side, on both sides of the west stairway. Damage to the vertical walls at the base of the pyramid, on the west side, was also noted.

Archaeologists and conservators with the INAH immediately began the process of developing a strategy for conservation and stabilization. The plan called for the strengthening the West façade, monitoring of any structural changes, and implementing emergency measures where needed. The cavity under the base of the stairway was filled with stonework, mortared with concrete and plaster. Movement monitors were placed at critical locations to detect failing integrity. The immediate measures taken to stabilize the pyramid had prevented a catastrophic collapse, but late in 1997, archaeologists noted additional small cracks had developed in the walls of the pyramid (Desmond). Conservation efforts are still underway and, as with El Castillo in Chichen Itza, visitors to the site are now prohibited from climbing the pyramid.

Pyramid of the Magician in 2009

The Pyramid of the Magician remains the central tourist attraction in the Uxmal complex. Modern facilities can be now found at the entrance, immediately in front of the pyramid; including a cafeteria, souvenir shop, and restrooms. There is also a small museum and auditorium. The site is open between 8am and 5pm, with a sound and light show, presented in both English and Spanish, every evening. The Pyramid of the Magician is the focal point of the show.

The name of the structure is derived from folk legends told by the indigenous Mayan people. The age of these tales is unknown, as is the Pre-Columbian name of the structure. The tale existed in varied accounts concerning the construction of the Pyramid of the Magician.

According to one account, a magician-god named Itzamna was single-handedly supposed to have erected the pyramid in one night, using his might and magic.

Another tale holds that when a certain gong was to sound, the city of Uxmal was destined to be led by a boy “not born of woman”. The gong was struck, one day, by a dwarf that was born unto no mother, but rather hatched from an egg by a childless, old woman (according to a tourist guide in Uxmal, this egg was an iguana egg, and the woman a witch). The sound of the gong struck fear into the city's ruler and the dwarf was ordered to be executed. The ruler reconsidered the death sentence, though, and promised that the dwarf's life would be spared if he could perform three seemingly impossible tasks. One of the tasks was to build a massive pyramid, taller than any building in the city, in a single night. The dwarf ultimately completed all the tasks, including the construction of the pyramid. The dwarf was hailed as the new ruler of Uxmal and the structure was dedicated to him.

A slightly different version of this tale is recounted by Hans Li in The Ancient Ones: Legend tells that this temple-pyramid was built by a powerful dwarf magician, who was hatched from an egg by his mother. Under a threat by an Uxmal king he was ordered to build this temple within a fortnight, or else lose his life (82).

In other surviving versions, the old woman is portrayed as a witch or sorceress and the dwarf is a boy who magically reaches adulthood overnight.

The official legend as told to John Lloyd Stephens in 1840 by a local Maya native follows:

There was an old woman who lived in a hut that was located on the exact spot where the finished pyramid now stands. This old woman was a witch who one day went into mourning that she had no children. One day, she took an egg and wrapped it in cloth and placed it in a corner of her small hut. Every day she went to look at the egg until one day it hatched and a small creature, closely resembling a baby, came from the enchanted egg.

The old woman was delighted and called the baby her son. She provided it with a nurse and took good care of it so that within a year it was walking and talking like a man. It stopped growing after a year and the old woman was very proud of her son and told him that one day he would be a great Lord or King.

One day, she told her son to go the House of the Governor and challenge the King to a trial of strength. The dwarf didn't want to go at first but the old woman insisted and so to see the King he went. The guards let him in and he threw down his challenge to the King. The King smiled, and told the dwarf to lift a stone that weighed three arrobas 34kg (75 pounds). At this the dwarf cried and ran back to his mother. The witch was wise, and told her son to tell the King that if the King would lift the stone first, then he would lift it also. The dwarf returned and told the King what his mother told him to say. The king lifted the stone and the dwarf did the same. The King was impressed, and a little nervous, and tested the dwarf for the rest of the day with other feats of strength. Each time the King performed an act, the dwarf was able to match it.

The King became enraged that he was being matched by a dwarf, and told the dwarf that in one night he must build a house higher than any other in the city or he would be killed. The dwarf again returned crying to his mother who told him to not lose hope, and that he should go straight to bed. The next morning the city awoke to see the Pyramid of the Dwarf in its finished state, taller than any other building in the city.

The King saw this building from his palace and was again enraged. He summoned the dwarf and ordered one final test of strength. The dwarf had to collect two bundles of Cogoil wood, a very strong and heavy wood, and the king would break the wood over the head of the dwarf, and after that the dwarf could have his turn to break the wood over the King's head.

The dwarf again ran to his mother for help. She told him not to worry and placed an enchanted tortilla on his head for protection. The trial was to be performed in front of all the great men of the city. The King proceeded to break the whole of his bundle over the dwarf’s head, one stick at a time. The King failed to injure the dwarf and then tried to bow out of his challenge. In full view of the town’s great men, though, he knew he had no choice but to go ahead and let the dwarf have his turn.

The second stick of the dwarf’s bundle broke the Kings skull into pieces and he fell dead at the foot of the dwarf, who was hailed as the new King (Ranney 80-1).

Stephens and Catherwood visited Uxmal first in 1839, then again during their expedition of 1841. Describing his first view of the ruins, Stephens writes:

"We took another road, and, emerging suddenly from the woods, to my astonishment came at once upon a large open field strewed with mounds of ruins, and vast buildings on terraces, and pyramidal structures, grand and in good preservation, richly ornamented, without a bush to obstruct the view, and in picturesque effect almost equal to the ruins of Thebes... ...The place of which I am now speaking was beyond all doubt once a large, populous, and highly civilized city. Who built it, why it was located away from water or any of those natural advantages which have determined the sites of cities whose histories are known, what led to its abandonment and destruction, no man can tell." John Lloyd Stephens (64)

"The pyramid is an image of the world; in turn, that image of the world is a projection of human society. If it is true that man invents gods in his own image, it is also true that he sees his own image in the images that the sky and the earth offer him. Man makes human history of the inhuman landscape; nature turns history into cosmogony, the dance of the stars." Octavio Paz (294)

“The classical pyramid form has been abandoned here. It is as if the Mayan architects had remembered the mountain peaks where the gods had been worshipped in the hazy past.” Hans Helfritz (149)

• El Castillo, Chichen Itza
• List of Mesoamerican pyramids
• Temple of the Inscriptions at Palenque
• Tikal Temple I
• Tikal Temple II
• Tikal Temple III
• Tikal Temple IV
• Tikal Temple V

• Desmond, Lawrenc G. “Stereo-Photogrammetric Documentation of the Adivino Pyramid at Uxmal, Yucatan”. (Online resource) 12-24 Mar. 1999. Retrieval 26 Oct. 2006 <https://web.archive.org/web/20060907110146/http://maya.csuhayward.edu/archaeoplanet/LgdPage/Adivino99SumRpt.htm>
• Helfritz, Hans. Mexican Cities of the Gods: An Archeological Guide. New York: Praeger, 1970.
• Kowalski, Jeff K. The House of the Governor: A Maya palace at Uxmal, Yucatán, Mexico. Norman : University of Oklahoma Press, 1987.
• Li, Hans. The Ancient Ones: Sacred Monuments of the Inka, Maya & Cliffdweller. Banaras: City of Light, 1994.
• Paz, Octavio. The Other Mexico: Critique of the Pyramid. New York : Grove Press, 1972.
• Ranney, Edward. Stonework of the Maya. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1974.
• Stephens, John L. Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatán Volume I. New York: Dover Publications, 1969.
• Stierlin, Henri. Living Architecture: Mayan. Fribourg: Office du livre, 1964.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pirámide del Adivino, Uxmal.

• Reed College website on Pyramid of the Magician
• Ancient Worlds: The Americas, Pyramid of the Dwarf
• Frommers Travel Site, Pyramid of the Magician