Labná

Altitude: 28 m (92 ft)

How to get there

By bus from Mérida; by car on the MEX 261: about 5km/3mi south of Kabah a new road leads to Labná via Sayil (15km/9.3mi).

Labná - buried, like the neighbouring sites of Sayil and Xlapak, amid dense tropical vegetation - is an important Maya centre, the full extent of which has not yet been explored. It offers classical examples of the Puuc architectural style.

History

As with Sayil and Xlapak, little is known of the history of this interesting site. The few datings that have been established indicate that the principal structures at Labná ("broken houses" in the Maya tongue) were built in the 9th c. ad, in the Maya Late Classic period. Here, as at most Maya sites, we owe the first account of the remains to John L. Stephens and Frederick Catherwood, who visited Labná in the mid 19th c. The large numbers of chultunes (cisterns), over sixty of which were found, suggest that the town had a considerable population.

In recent years the Carnegie Institute and various Mexican institutions have done excellent restoration work at Labná as well as the neighbouring sites of Sayil and Xlapak.