The Pre-Columbian Mayan Site of Labná in Mexico 

Labná, which means "old or abandoned house," is a Mesoamerican archaeological site and ceremonial center of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization, located in the Puuc Hills region of the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. It is located to the south of the large Maya site of Uxmal, along the Puuc Route, in the southwest of the present-day state of Yucatán, Mexico. It was incorporated with Uxmal as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.

The site at Labná is a comparatively small and compact one. Among its notable structures is a large two-story 'palace' ("El Palacio"), which is one of the longest contiguous structures in the Puuc region at approximately 120 m (393.7 ft.) in length with a large rendition of the rain god Chac over the front door. Its façade includes representations of palm houses and stylized snakes. On one corner of the building is a serpent with a human head emerging from its jaws. Each figure has a specific meaning in the cosmology of the Maya. The second floor is currently closed to visitors.

From the palace, a ceremonial road (sacbe) extends to an elaborately decorated gateway arch ("El Arco"). This structure is 3 m (9.8 ft) wide and 6 m high, with well-reserved bas-reliefs. The arch at Labná is famous for being one of the most intricately decorated archs yet discovered in the world of the ancient Maya. Chac masks are seen on both of the arch´s upper corners. Carvings of stylized Mayan huts appear above the doorways. The arch is not an entrance to the city but rather is a passageway between two courtyards. In the west courtyard of the Arch Group is a low restored structure that has some stone mosaic work. Around the small courtyard are other unrestored ruins. There are smaller unrestored ruins throughout the site, with a few in good condition farther out from the core center.

Next to this gateway stands "El Mirador", a pyramid-like structure on top of a mound surmounted by a temple. Only the temple atop the mound has been restored. It is of an Early Puuc Style composed of five vaulted rooms. Also on the site is the Temple of the Columns.

The structural design and motifs of the site's buildings are in the Maya architecture regional style known as Puuc. This makes extensive use of well-cut stone forming patterns and depictions, including masks of the long-nosed rain god Chaac.

Labná was built in the Late and Terminal Classic era between 600 and 900 AD. A date corresponding to 862 AD is inscribed in the palace. Further building work was undertaken after that but the population began to decline until Labná was eventually abandoned around 1200 AD. It is believed that around 3000 Maya lived here at the city’s peak around the 9th century. Its landscape is relatively arid and water was collected in chultunes (cisterns), many of which are still visible today.

The first written report of Labná was by John Lloyd Stephens who visited it with artist Frederick Catherwood in 1842. The first excavations by Edward Thompson, American Counsel in Merida,  began about 50 years later.

As the relations between India and Mexico are warming up, India has recently unveiled a replica of the Arch at Garden of Five Senses, New Delhi as a goodwill gesture.

Photographed in 2024.