By the 16th century, Izamal was a mighty Mayan city with six pyramids surrounding a huge ceremonial plaza at the center of the largest city in the northern Yucatán plain. After Bishop Diego de Landa arrived at the Izamal Mission in the mid-16th century, the city was never the same, with colonial buildings standing over Mayan monuments. The Convento de San Antonio de Padua is a baroque monastery that once housed the Pop-Hol-Chac pyramid.
The monument, like most of Isamal’s historical buildings, is painted a cheerful ocher yellow. Izamal is now Mexico’s official magical village, with several Mayan archaeological sites integrated into the townscape and lined with helpful information panels.
10 Top Things To Do In Izamal Mexico
- Downtown Architecture
- Convento de San Antonio de Padua
- Atrio del Convento de San Antonio de Padua
- Kinich Kakmó Pyramid
- Centro Cultural y Artesanal
- Itzamatul
- Temple of Kabul
- Monumento a Fray Diego de Landa
- Parque Itzamna
- Habuk Archaeological Site
Downtown Architecture
Although there aren’t many attractions in the center of Izamal, you’ll definitely fall in love with its colorful colonial architecture that dates back to the 16th century.
Izamar is often called the “Ciudad Amarilla” (the yellow city), where almost all the buildings are painted an ocher yellow, but the eaves, door frames and window frames are bright white. Amateur photographers can take some amazing photos, and the yellow exteriors of the houses are just as beautiful as they show the patina of age.
On the south side of Parque 5 de Mayo is the Hecho a Mano shop, which sells folk crafts from all over the Yucatan (wood carvings, embroidered textiles).
Convento de San Antonio de Padua
Located on top of a Mesoamerican pyramid, this monastery is a great example of how Spanish settlers in Izamal transformed the city’s Mayan architecture in the 16th century. The largest of Izamal’s six Mayan platforms, the Pophorchak Pyramid was dedicated to the sky god Itzamna and is still the tallest part of the city. The Franciscan monastery at the top was built between 1549 and 1561 using stones from pre-Hispanic monuments.
According to the enormous proportions of the pyramid, the courtyard (atrio) is the second largest in Christendom after the Vatican. The interior of the church has 16th and 17th century frescoes and a baroque altar with ornate gilded woodwork and painted scenes from the life of Jesus.
Atrio del Convento de San Antonio de Padua
The most impressive thing about the monastery is definitely its large rectangular courtyard (atrio). At over 7,800 square feet, it is certainly the largest in America and, as we mentioned, possibly the second largest in the world. You can walk through the arcades of this vast space and explore the “yellow city” and you will be thrilled to think that you are standing on top of a Mayan pyramid.
At the entrance of the church, in the center of the courtyard, there is a statue of John Paul II to commemorate his visit in 1993.
Kinich Kakmó Pyramid
Inevitably north of the city center is a huge Mayan pyramid, the most complete remnant of Izamal’s pre-Hispanic past.
The Kinichakkomo pyramid is dedicated to the sun god of the same name. Kinich Kakmó means “fire parrot” and this macaw-headed god is believed to descend to earth when the sun is at its highest point to receive respect.
This pyramid has no decorations, but it is one of the largest pyramids in Mexico with an area of 700,000 cubic meters. You can climb to the top, and although it’s not an easy hike in the midday sun, the view from the top is one of the best in the city.
Centro Cultural y Artesanal
Just north of Parque 5 de Mayo, the museum is housed in a 16th-century mansion.
Opened in 2007 in a converted hotel, the shop showcases the work of the city’s best craftsmen and women. The museum has 11 exhibition halls with exhibits divided into five categories: wood, ceramics, metals, textiles and objects woven from plant fibers such as heneken.
There are creative jewelry made from palm seeds and horns, alebrijes (foreign papier-mâché monsters) and Calavera Catrinas (skeletal figures made for Day of the Dead). The gallery also has a small exhibition about the real estate architecture of the area and a shop where you can buy artisans.
Itzamatul
One of the largest monuments in the Lost Maya Square in Izamal, Izamatur is a monument built in three phases.
The earliest work completed around 400-600. AD, includes base and stairs with light gradients. About 300 years later it was covered by a more vertical “ramp and panel” structure, which was restored and scaled.
Looking north, you can see the pyramid of Quinicacmo and learn about the layout of the lost Mayan site. The last stage, from the 10th to the 12th century, was a huge pyramid, of which only the 100-meter-long base and a short staircase remain.
Like Pop-Khor-Chak, Izamatur is dedicated to the sky god Itzamna and therefore attracts pilgrims from all over the region.
Temple of Kabul
On the west side of the Itzamna park square are the remains of a newly excavated temple.
The name “Kabul” means “magic hand” in Mayan. When completed, the monument will be more than 60 meters long and 9 meters high. Its sides were once painted with stucco decorations, and when the British explorer Frederick Catherwood arrived in Isamal in 1843, he made a sketch of an impressive stucco mask as high as the walls.
Unfortunately, this decoration has since disappeared.
Monumento a Fray Diego de Landa
At the roundabout, opposite the southern wall of the Convent of San Antonio in Padua, there is a monument to Diego de Landa, the founder of the Isamar colony. Stop and take a photo because he is one of the reasons Izamal looks the way it does today. He arrived in the Yucatan in 1549, three years after Spain took control of the region, and was responsible for spreading Catholicism among the Maya.
His methods were extreme to say the least, including burning priceless codices and wholesale Mayan ruins, sometimes turning them into Catholic monuments, as we saw in Izamala. Paradoxically, during this battle, Diego de Landa also became one of the earliest and most reliable recorders of Mayan civilization.
Parque Itzamna
In the main square of Izamara, located on the north side of the Convent of San Antonio in Padua, there is a colorful Mexican-style sign indicating the town’s name.
The square is planted with royal palms, tamarind and elephant ear trees and is surrounded by arcades and ramps leading to the monastery. The arcade is lined with coffee shops, ice cream parlors and Mexican restaurants, and if you sit and look west, you can see the top of the Kabul Temple.
Habuk Archaeological Site
To the east of Isamala are the further ruins of Diya, dating to the Early Classic period of the third century AD. Habuk consists of a platform 90 meters long and less than 4 meters high. At the top is a roughly square area surrounded by the remains of four buildings.
The oldest buildings on the site date from around the 11th century. As with other archaeological sites in Izamal, you are free to explore and see what you can find.
