Tulum

Tulum is the best-preserved Mayan city on the Yucatan Peninsula, built long before the opening of Columbus of America. Nowadays, the city is divided into 3 parts: historical, resort and directly the city itself, which grew at the expense of tourists.

The ruins of the city are located on the picturesque shores of the Caribbean. The height of the rocky coast reaches 12 meters. Initially, the city had the name "Sama", which translates as "city of dawn". Later, Tulum was assigned to him, which is translated from the language of local peoples as "Wall". Perhaps this name appeared because of the wall that protected the city from enemies. The walls were approximately 800 meters long, about 8 meters wide and about 4 meters high. The first mention of the city dates back to 1518, when they were visited by conquistador Juan Diaz. Later, the city fell into decay and already in 1843, American and English researchers described the ruins of an abandoned city. They compiled an exact map of the city, and also found a stone stele on which there was an inscription dated 564. Later, studies proved that the main buildings were made in the 11-13 centuries.

During its prosperity, the city was an important religious center, mainly temple ministers and rulers lived in it. Everyone else lived outside the protective walls. According to numerous frescoes, it can be judged that the city was a place of worship of the "Laughing God". Buildings in Tulum are typical of the buildings of the Maya civilization. Of greatest interest is the Temple of Frescoes, in which you can see 2 galleries, statues, images of the "Laughing God" on the facade of the building and inside. Off the coast of Tulumas there is a building called Castillo ( Fortress ). Its height is 7.5 meters and was most likely used as a beacon showing the place where you can swim between the reefs. Below is a bay with a good beach for mooring boats. Archaeological finds off the coast speak of the important role of the city for trade: gold products from the entire Yucatan peninsula, objects of copper and ceramics, ceramics, incense. Tulum's convenient location for trade routes allowed the city to develop when the rest of the Mayan cities fell into decay.

The proximity of the Caribbean and tourist sites has made Tulum a very popular destination among tourists. Every hour, tourists are brought and taken here. This place is no less popular among divers, because there is an extensive network of underground rivers and hayfields of Sak Aktun nearby.