page_title: Kabah (Maya site)
section_title: Architecture
hierarchical_section_title: Kabah (Maya site) / Architecture
caption_attribution_description: English: This is the map of the Kabah Maya archeological zone posted on the wall of the visitors center.
context_page_description: Kabah is a Maya archaeological site in the Puuc region of western Yucatan, south of Mérida.
  Kabah is south of Uxmal, connected to that site by a 18 kilometres long raised causeway 5 metres wide with monumental arches at each end. Kabah is the second largest ruin of the Puuc region after Uxmal.
  The site is on Fed. 261, approximately 140 kilometres south from Mérida, Yucatán, towards Campeche, Campeche, and is a popular tourism destination. Ruins extend for a considerable distance on both sides of the highway; many of the more distant structures are little visited, and some are still overgrown with forest. As of 2003, a program is ongoing to clear and restore more buildings, as well as archeological excavations under the direction of archeologist Ramón Carrasco.
  Kabah was declared a Yucatán state park in 1993.
context_section_description: The most famous structure at Kabah is the "Palace of the Masks", the façade decorated with hundreds of stone masks of the long-nosed rain god Chaac; it is also known as the Codz Poop, meaning "Rolled Matting", from the pattern of the stone mosaics. This massive repetition of a single set of elements is unusual in Maya art, and here is used to unique effect.
  Masks of the rain god abound on other structures throughout the site. Copal incense has been discovered in some of the stone noses of the raingods. The emphasis placed on Chaac, the "Protector of the Harvest", both here and at other neighboring Puuc sites, stemmed from the scarcity of water in the region.  There are no cenotes in this dryer, northern part of the Yucatán, so the Maya here had to depend solely on rain.
  The site also has a number of other palaces, low stone buildings, and step-pyramid temples.  While most is in the Puuc Maya style, some show Chenes elements.  The site had a number of sculpted panels, lintels, and doorjambs, most of which have been removed to museums elsewhere. The sculptures mostly depict the site's rulers and scenes of warfare.
  The first detailed account of the ruin was published by John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood in 1843.
caption: Map of the Kabah Maya archeological zone
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