The name of this complex was assigned by the Hispanic colonizers, who thought that the rooms were the residence of Mayan priestesses.

The complex rests on top of the artificial platform, on which four buildings with different levels and variations in shape and design are deployed. The ancient builders not only achieved harmony with the different levels and the horizontality of each building, but also combined the scale of the buildings to the human scale, which shows a rhythm with the entrances and a rich message in the decorative detail, achieved through a filigree in stone. The decoration of this complex is varied, but the latticework, serpentine motifs, masks of Chaac and Tlaloc (water deities), jaguars, owls, human figures and huts predominate.

The remodeling and integration of the Quadrangle of the Nuns was achieved in a very short time, because based on the inscriptions and dates of carbon 14 we can know that the East Building has a date of October 2, 906, the South Building, April 23, 906, and the throne located at the beginning of the staircase of the North Building has a date of January 20, 909. Later, the foundation of the South Building of the Nuns underwent modifications, as it presents remains of smaller buildings with a “C” plan, roofed with perishable materials and arranged around open courtyards. This occupation is dated between 950 and 1150.

North building: This construction is the most important because of its dimensions and the height at which it is placed. On a platform of about 100 m long, 20 m wide and approximately 7 m high, this terrace is accessed by a wide staircase 30 m wide, and on it stands the building that is 81 m wide. It is also composed of two parallel bays divided into 11 rooms (22 in total), each of them communicated with the one in front, as there are only doors on the facade facing the courtyard, while at the east and west ends there are two other rooms in each, with entrances on the side facades.

South building: This building forms the main facade and in it is the door that gives access to the patio. It is composed of two bays separated by a central wall and divided into rooms by transversal partitions, in this case four on each side of the central door, so that, in total, there are sixteen, plus two at each end that were added later.

West Building: The Poniente Building is located on a similar platform and opposite the South Building. It is 54 meters long and has the same height and width as the East Building. Its distribution is also very similar, with seven double chambers, of which the central one is slightly larger. The facade rises on the plinth, decorated with columns. The lower part is undecorated, with an incoming plane on both sides of the doors. The frieze, between cornices of three elements, is like those of the other buildings, vertical and with a complicated decoration distributed according to the axes of the seven doors.

East building: This building has been totally consolidated and restored. It is based on a 2.35 m high platform that is reached by a stairway that covers the entire length of the terrace, which is 47 m, whose first steps are very wide.

The building is 48 m long by 10.50 m high. Like the others, it consists of two bays divided into eight rooms each, by means of partitions; the central rooms are larger than the others, which makes the separation between the central door and those on its sides on the façade greater.

This group is a quadrangle with buildings on its four sides. In its patio there are the remains of four small platforms with reliefs on the sides, which represent hieroglyphs, skulls with headdresses and intertwined bones. These representations gave rise to the name of this complex, built between 670 and 770.

This architectural complex is integrated, in sequence, by a Sunken Patio, a base where El Palomar is located, followed by another quadrangle, and another base where the South Temple is located with a triadic pattern.

The name was given because the openwork of the crest was used for nesting pigeons. The crestería is made up of nine triangular staggered and fretworked units supported by a row of pillars. This crestería is known as “crestería of peninsular type”, of the early Puuc architectural style, dated between 670 and 770 BC.

El Palomar: Only the central wall and the half vaults of this building are preserved. The vaults have a wide entrance arch that cuts the lower cornice, and a double bay with doors to the exterior and interior, corresponding to the rooms in which it is divided.

The Governor's Palace: This grandiose building dominates all of Uxmal (and the Puuc) from the top of an enormous system of platforms. It is considered by many to be the most extraordinary example of pre-Columbian architecture in all of the Americas. Its façade is impressive due to its delicate carved stonework, compared to filigree. In different planes, lattices, Chaac masks and representations of rulers are shown. However, the most impressive thing is that the whole palace is oriented to register the apparent movement of the planet Venus and the maximum declinations of the Sun that mark the solstices.

The Great Pyramid: It is a truncated quadrangular pyramid with nine staggered bodies. The access stairway is located to the north and leads to a platform on which the temple was built. This building corresponds to the VII century; in the west side decorative elements that correspond to the year 850 were covered, nevertheless it is very probable that it has substructures that date from the Preclassic. The upper structure has been called Temple of the Macaw because this kind of bird is the main motif that decorates the facade and is combined with fretwork and latticework, framed in squares formed by intertwined snakes.

It is made up of four buildings that together form a quadrangle. In the extreme east is the Temple of the Soothsayer; to the north a building formed by a small central portico with two bays in “tandem”, with three entrances on the main side; the South Building is a portico with a central altar; in each wing of this building a room was annexed whose frieze was decorated with a design of feathers and birds sculpted in limestone. Above the main entrance, the decoration is complemented by a niche with a sculpture of Lord Chaac, who is identified as the last ruler of Uxmal and whose residence was this complex.

The Quadrangle of the Birds, together with the Temple of the Soothsayer, constitute the representation of a sacred space where the pyramid is linked to the quadrangle: in a symbolic sense they represent, on the one hand, the earth as the center of the universe, represented as a flat and square surface (the Quadrangle of the Birds) and, on the other hand, the sky by means of a mountain or pyramid with 13 large steps symbolized by the masks of Chaac, of which the thirteenth is located in the center and represented with the Chenes Temple. Through these spaces man is related to the gods.

Temple of the Soothsayer or the Dwarf: The name comes from a Mayan story known as “Legend of the Dwarf of Uxmal”, which was compiled in the 19th century. So far we know that the temple had a series of applications until it reached the shape and dimensions it has today. With 32 meters high, it is the tallest in the region. It has stairways on the east and west sides to reach the upper temple.

This pyramid represents the thirteen celestial levels, which in a symbolic sense link the earth with the sky, man with the gods. The temples are sacred places destined to the priests, to which they climbed to perform various religious ceremonies and rituals related to the counting of time, as well as human sacrifices.

It consists of two pairs of rooms in a tandem plan that are attached to a vaulted passage. The construction system of the walls of the south bay is not common in the region, since it was achieved with long slabs stacked in a single direction. This construction system was probably used in some Early Classic buildings. The south and north bays were built at different times during the Late Classic, but the decoration is reproduced to maintain harmony.

This structure was built on a large artificially leveled space covered with stucco. It consists of two parallel buildings on which porticoes were erected to house the elite spectators, which have a general north-south orientation and delimit a courtyard 34 meters long by 10 meters wide. The benches with slopes attached to walls were decorated with bodies of feathered serpents. Towards the central part of the Ball Court there are remains of rings with hieroglyphic inscriptions with the date 649. The integration of snakes in the walls and in the base of the building are motifs incorporated late, between 889-909. This indicates that the building was used for 260 years.

It is located on the eastern edge of the square where the Ball Court is located. This building dates from the year 740 and is 30 m wide. It is very similar to the South Building of the Birds and Temple II of the Soothsayer. The frieze is decorated with panels of plain ashlars, alternating with sets of three small columns. The architectural design represents a great advance in the handling of materials and construction processes, since these vaulted porticoes are unique of their kind.

This building had a public use that consisted of housing the ball players, preparing their clothing, assembling the trousseau and performing the ritual prior to the ceremony.

It was built on one of the extensions of the Great Platform around 900 AD. It stands out for its ornamental simplicity, as the frieze is decorated with columns and sculptures of turtles arranged around the perimeter of the frieze. These animals are associated with water and the creation of the world.

The original plan of this building is composed of a central bay with two adjoining rooms at each end. The lateral rooms were dismantled during the Terminal Classic period to recycle their materials in C-shaped housing structures.

The central bay has characteristics that evoke the architecture of the Chenes of southern Campeche. The frieze is decorated with three masks of the god Itzamná, alternating with smooth ashlar panels, between pairs of small columns. The main access is formed by three openings configured by two columns made of ashlars, an atypical style in the architecture of the region. A keystone of the vault has a fresco depicting the god Pájaro posing on a celestial band. This representation was the patron saint of sorcerers or “Jmenoob”. This construction was made between the years 725 and 800.