Note V-47 — Chapter V · ANTIQUITIES OF YUCATAN.
Reading edition
I append a few general quotations concerning the Nunnery: The court façades 'ornamented from one end to the other with the richest and most intricate carving known in the art of the builders of Uxmal; presenting a scene of strange magnificence, surpassing any that is now to be seen among its ruins.' Stephens' Yucatan, vol. i., p. 300. 'All these façades were painted; the traces of the colour are still visible, and the reader may imagine what the effect must have been when all this building was entire, and according to its supposed design, in its now desolate doorways stood noble Maya maidens, like the vestal virgins of the Romans, to cherish and keep alive the sacred fire burning in the temples.' Id., p. 307. The bottoms of the caissons of the diamond lattice-work are painted red. The paint is believed to be a mixture in equal parts of carmine and vermilion, probably vegetable colors. Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 200-1; Zavala, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., pp. 33-4, describes a building supposed to be the Nunnery on account of the serpent ornament, which, however, is stated to be on the exterior front of the building. Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 177, describes the court and surrounding edifices, stating that the serpent surrounds all four sides. 'Vn gran patio con muchos aposentos separados en forma de claustro donde viuian estas doncellas. Es fabrica digna de admiracion, porque lo exterior de las paredes es todo de piedra labrada, donde estàn sacadas de medio relieue figuras de hombres armados, diuersidad de animales, pajaros, y otras cosas.' 'Todos los quatro lienços de aquel gran patio (que se puede llamar plaça) los ciñe vna culebra labrada en la misma piedra de las paredes, que termina la cola por debaxo de la cabeça, y tiene toda ella en circuito quatrocientos pies.' Jones, Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 93, accounts for the superiority of the sculpture on the court façades by supposing that it was executed at a later date; its protection from the weather would also tend to its better preservation.