The Convent
After the Spanish Conquest, Franciscan friars capitalized on Izamal’s role as a holy place by building a huge mission on top of the Pap-Hol-Chac temple. Work began on the fortress-like San Antonio de Padua convent in 1553 and the atrium was completed by 1618. It is reputed to be the second largest atrium in the world after St. Peter’s in Rome, and has 75 arches!
As you stroll through the convent, look out for the golden altarpiece, a series of 16th and 17th-century frescos, revealed when a thick layer of plaster was removed during restoration work and the statue of the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception, the patron saint of the Yucatán. A small museum documents the history of the convent, the legends associated with the Virgin and the 1993 visit of His Holiness Pope John Paul II to Izamal. It is possible to visit the chapel, the cloisters and see some of the cells. To the east of the convent you can see the remains of the noria or well and the monastery garden.
A Light & Sound Show takes place in the convent atrium on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 8 p.m.
A statue of controversial cleric, Diego de Landa, stands outside the convent. Guardian of the mission from 1552, Friar Diego de Landa oversaw most of the convent’s construction and installed the statue of our Lady of Izamal. He is famous for an auto da fe in the town of Maní in 1562 when he burnt 27 Mayan bark paper books called codices and hundreds of clay idols, thus consigning Mayan history and scientific knowledge to the flames. He later wrote Relación de Cosas de Yucatán, an account of the Maya and the Yucatan at the time of the Conquest.

Exploring Izamal
The tradition of painting the convent yellow began in the Colonial period and gradually caught on in the town. Most of the houses, arches, churches, schools and other buildings including the 18th-century Town Hall, which faces the Convent across the central square, sport the Izamal colors, cheerful yellow with a white trim.
You can explore the town by foot or hire one of the horse-drawn carriages or victorias that wait patiently beside the convent wall. Visit the tiny Community Museum in Calle 31, the colonial churches of San Ildefonso, Los Remedios, Carmen and Santa Cruz and sit in one of the town’s parks or squares and watch the Izamaleños go about their business.
Izamal is a town of craftsmen and several workshops in different neighborhoods are open to the public. You can watch women embroider traditional cotton dresses called hipiles, see how wood carvers and jewelers use native woods, henequen and cocoyol seeds, and find out how a hammock is made. There are also miniatures, papier mache, tinwork and herbal medicine workshops. Ask about the Folk Art Route in the Tourism Office. You can purchase crafts in the town square, at the Izamal Cultural Center and at the Hecho a Mano handicraft store.

Getting to Izamal
Izamal is 268 km/167 miles from Cancún; take the toll road or Highway 180 and turn off where indicated.

Izamal has been inhabited since the days of the ancient Maya, in fact the earliest traces of human occupation date back to the third century B.C., making the site older than Uxmal and Chichén Itzá. Izamal later became a sacred place, attracting Mayan pilgrims from all over the Yucatán, who worshipped Itzamná or Zamna, the chief god, inventor of writing, medicine and agriculture.

Over 20 major Mayan buildings have been found in and around Izamal, along with a network of sacbes or roads, house mounds and tombs. The Mayan sun god, Kinich Kakmo was also venerated here and the pyramid erected in his honor still dominates the skyline. Standing 35 meters high, it is the third largest building in Mesoamerica in terms of volume.

After the Conquest, Spanish friars took advantage of Izamal’s religious importance by building a huge Franciscan mission on top of the Pap-Hol-Chac temple. The San Antonio de Padua mission was founded in 1549 and completed in 1618. Home to the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception, the patron saint of the Yucatán since 1648, it is one of Mexico’s ten most important shrines. The fortress-like building is also said to have the second largest atrium in the world after St. Peter’s in Rome, and has no fewer than 75 arches!

Wherever you turn in Izamal you’ll see cheerful yellow paint and a white trim, this tradition dates from the Colonial Period and started with the convent. Nowadays most of the houses, arches, churches and civic buildings sport the Izamal colors.

Explore the streets and squares surrounding the convent on foot or hire a horse-drawn carriage or victoria. Apart from the convent and the Mayan pyramids, other local landmarks include the Town Hall, the Community Museum in Calle 31 and the colonial churches of San Ildefonso, Los Remedios, Carmen and Santa Cruz.

You may even be lucky enough to visit a craft workshop during your visit. Local artisans produce embroidered cotton dresses, hammocks, wood carvings, henequen and seed jewelry and papier mâché. Crafts can be purchased in the plaza and at the Izamal Cultural Center. Funded by the Banamex Foundation and managed by a cooperative of enterprising young Izamaleños, the Cultural Center also has an exhibition of fine handicrafts from all over the country, an informative display on the history of henequen, a café and a mini spa.

As the sun goes down, spend some time people watching in the peaceful main square and you even may decide to stay on after dark for the Light & Sound Show staged at the Convent on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday nights at 8:30 p.m. (schedule may change).

The landscape around Izamal is dotted with henequen haciendas and the fields of the sage-green plant that played such an important role in the Yucatecan economy in the late 19th century. Most are abandoned but small-scale cultivation still continues at Chichihú. Haciendas Tzalancab and San José Tecoh are open to the public from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. and offer bird watching trails. Guides are available at the Tourist Information booth in Izamal Town Hall.

If you would like to visit Izamal, why not contact Thomas More Travel at tourdesk@royalresorts.com to arrange a private excursion? The Mérida & Uxmal overnight trip available from Thomas More also includes an Izamal stop. If you decide to rent a car from Hertz and explore at your own pace, Izamal is 158 miles from Cancún and 43 miles from Mérida, take the turnoffs signposted on the toll road or Highway 180.