Labná

Labná means "old houses" in Mayan

 

It is built in the Classic Puuc style and dates between 600-900 A.D. A small and intimate site, it is filled with exquisite and intricate details. The Puuc Maya style of building is known for its incredible artistry.

Stephens & Catherwood visited Labná in 1841; Stephens wrote:

 

"The next morning we set out for the ruins of Labná. Our road lay southeast, among hills, and was more picturesque than any we had seen in the country. At the distance of a mile and a half we reached a field of ruins, which, after all we had seen, created in us new feelings of astonishment... Since our arrival in the country we had not met with anything that excited us more strongly, and now we had mingled feelings of pain and pleasure; of pain, that they had not been discovered before the sentence of irretrievable ruin had gone forth against them; at the same time it was matter of deep congratulation that, before the doom was accomplished, we were permitted to see these decaying, but still proud memorials of a mysterious people."

(Stephens, vol. 2, p. 29-30)