Chichén Itzá - Nunnery

(Local Name: Edificio de las Monjas) The path continues south beyond the Caracol to an edifice which the Spanish misleadingly christened the Nunnery (Edificio de las Monjas). The elaborately ornamented structure and subsidiary buildings are executed in the Mayan Chenes style, virtually every inch of the façades being decorated with symbols of the Mayan Rain god Chac. The so-called "Church" ("Iglesia") is a particularly fine example of Puuc architecture, an early style in which the façades are decorated with geometric patterns and animals as well as Chac masks. In this instance a crab, an armadillo, a snail and a tortoise, the creatures which in Mayan mythology support the heavens, can be seen between the masks.