Sitting on a dramatic bluff, El Castillo is the tallest (7.5m) and most imposing structure in Tulum. At the spring equinox, a ray of sunlight shines through the temple, aligning perfectly under the image. The image, perhaps the most iconic of Tulum, is associated with the highly revered god of bees. Templo del Dios Descendente is named after the relief figure of a descending god above the building's door. It’s believed that the roof had a special opening that would whistle when hurricanes approached to warn Tulum’s residents. The structure’s circular base is associated with the god of wind, for which it is named. The most photographed structure is Templo del Dios de Viento, a small temple perched on a rocky outcrop, the Caribbean waters perfectly framing it. The vast majority of the residents, Tulum’s working class, lived outside the walls. They served to enclose and fortify the city, protecting the city’s civic-ceremonial buildings, palaces and the ruling classes who lived there. The three ramparts (walls) surrounding Tulum are 3m to 5m high, and measure between 170m to 380m long. Starting with the oceanfront structures and walking clockwise through the site, you’ll see it all in a couple hours, longer if you stay for a swim. Tulum is a compact archaeological zone, contained entirely within its enormous stone walls. Originally, the city was called Zamá, or “dawn,” because it faced east. Tulum means “wall” in Yucatec Maya, a reference to the city’s fortifications 19th-century explorers used the name and it stuck. Foreign travelers didn’t begin arriving in earnest for another 100-plus years, though Maya pilgrims and indigenous refugees taking shelter during the Caste War used the site intermittently. For hundreds of years afterward, nature reclaimed the city, and it was unknown to the outside world until the mid-1800s when explorers John Stephens and Frederick Catherwood published detailed descriptions and drawings of it. Yet, only 75 years after the Spanish conquest, the city was abandoned, its population decimated by European-borne diseases. When the Spanish conquistador Juan de Grijalva sailed past in 1518, he was amazed by the sight of the walled city, its buildings painted a gleaming red, blue and yellow, and a ceremonial fire burning atop its seaside watchtower.
Inhabited as early as 564, Tulum’s heyday wasn’t until 1200–1521 when it served as an important port town, controlling maritime commerce along the Caribbean coast to Belize. But Tulum captures your imagination like no other, perhaps conjuring visions of pre-Columbian tradesmen arriving in canoes laden with goods, and the Maya workers who received them, contemplating the same bracing views. True, the structures themselves are modest in comparison to other grand Maya cities. The ruins sit on seaside cliffs, high above turquoise waters that extend as far as your eye can see. Tulum is one of the most visited archaeological zones in Mexico and for good reason: it’s sublime.
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