The Revolutionary Building Decorations at Ek Balam

Get ready to discover the most extensive Mayan ruins you’ve never heard of. Ek Balam, which was an active city for a whole millennium, is as big as it is impressive. So much so, that the art and history found here rival more famous places, like Chichen Itza.

Get ready to walk in Ek Balam

Hope you brought your comfiest pair of shoes because you’ll be on your feet for a while. Ek Balam features a whopping 45 structures, among which there are several temples and two palaces. Plus a gigantic pyramid overlooking the whole city. And their size is not the only thing that makes these structures impressive. You’ll be stopping on each one to admire the heavily-decorated facades, featuring a technique that was quite revolutionary at the time.

Most notable structures

At almost 100 ft. high, Ek Balam’s pyramid is so tall its nickname—”La Torre”—means “the tower”. And climbing it takes more time than you think. Its intricate—and many!—decorations are impossible to ignore. You’ll find everything there, from representations of animals to human skulls.

Another notable structure is Sak Xok Nahh, which means “white house of reading” in Mayan. Or, if you can’t say that three times fast, call it by its academic name: Structure 35 Sub. There’s not a lot of reading to do here, however, as it’s actually a tomb. That of Ukit Kan Le´t Tok, one of Ek Balam’s rulers, buried here with 7,000 different artistic pieces made from different materials.

The unusual decorations at Ek Balam

What makes the decorations at Ek Balam so unusual? It’s the material they used. Rather than carving stone, they used a mix of limestone mortar and stucco to make a more pliable material. As a result, the artists behind these intricate figures were able to really put their talents to use, and their work became one of the staples of this incredible city.

Ek Balam is a lost city, but not that lost

Reading this you might think you need to hack your way through the jungle to finally reach Ek Balam. Fortunately, that isn’t the case. It’s only a 20-minute ride from Valladolid, or 2 hours, if you’re staying at the Riviera Maya. So, really, there’s no excuse to miss it.