West wing of Structure 2B-1 (The Palace), Sayil, February 2001 (photo: Joel Skidmore). "The forthright simplicity of arrangement, combined with the casual disregard of minor imperfections of symmetry and a freedom from the oppressively monotonous intricacy of ornament that mars many Puuc structures, makes the Sayil palace one of the most satisfactory compositions that the Maya ever created" (Tatiana Proskouriakoff, An Album of Maya Architecture, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, D.C., 1946). |