Castle Map

Ruin

Sayil

Mexico · 9th century

Founded
c. 850
Heritage status
part of UNESCO World Heritage Site
Location
Oxkutzcab Municipality
Coordinates
20.17776°, -89.65218°
Links
UNESCO · OpenStreetMap · Wikimedia Commons
Open on the map →Wikipedia ↗
Sayil in Mexico
Photo: Juan José Acevedo Góngora · CC BY-SA 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons

Description

Sayil was a pre-Columbian city built by the Maya people of the Terminal Classic period. It is located in the Mexican state of Yucatán, in the southwest of the state, south of Uxmal. Sayil, Kabah and Labna were incorporated together with Uxmal as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.

Sayil flourished principally, albeit briefly, in the Terminal Classic period. The city reached its greatest extent c. 900 and had a population of 10,000 with an additional 5,000–7,000 living in the surrounding area. A number of badly damaged monuments suggest that Sayil was governed by a local royal dynasty, with wealth among lineages based, at least in part, upon control of the best agricultural lands. The ruins of Sayil include a prominent example of monumental Puuc style architecture, the partially ruined Grand Palace of Sayil.

Text adapted from “Sayil” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

In the rankings

Sayil ranks #2,485 of 9,902 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #11 of the 17 mapped in Mexico. Founded c. 850, it is older than 94% of the atlas's dated landmarks, one of 89 atlas entries founded in the 9th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 996 times in the last 60 days, more than 55% of the atlas. 2 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. See how Mexico compares in the castle statistics.

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