Maya Ruins of Tulum
— a walled city built to watch the sea.
Not only on a wall.
“A small late-Maya port city on a twelve-metre cliff above the Caribbean, walled on three sides and open to the water. El Castillo, the temple at the cliff edge, faced ships approaching the reef. The city was occupied from about 1200 to 1500, and the Spanish first saw it from the sea in 1518. The stone still holds the morning light.
Maya Ruins of Tulum, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Tulum sits on the eastern coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, about 130 kilometres south of Cancún. The Maya city occupies a limestone bluff roughly twelve metres above the Caribbean, walled on its three landward sides. The wall encloses about six hectares. The site was a port for the late Postclassic Maya, active from roughly 1200 to 1500 AD, and one of the few Maya cities still inhabited when the Spanish arrived in 1518.
El Castillo, the largest building, stands at the cliff edge directly above the sea. It rises about 7.5 metres on a stepped platform; two windows in its upper structure align with a natural break in the offshore reef and may have served as a navigation aid for canoes returning at night. The Temple of the Frescoes, set back from the cliff, holds murals showing Maya deities and Postclassic iconography. The Temple of the Descending God, near the centre, takes its name from the carved figure above its doorway.
The archaeological zone opens daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. with a single admission fee paid at the gate. The small beach below the cliff, reached by wooden stairs, is open when conditions permit. The town of Tulum, four kilometres inland, holds most lodging and food. The ruins themselves are unshaded and the limestone reflects strongly, so early morning is the gentler visit. November through April is the dry season; September and October are hurricane months.