Basilica of San Antonio de Padua

The Basilica was built on the base of the largest of four main pyramids, a temple known as P'ap'hol-chaak, the home of Chaac. Friar Diego de Landa wrote that he was urged with great insistence by the Maya rulers to build a monastery amid the old shrines. He continues: "There is here in Izamal one building among the others, of such height and beauty that it is frightening..."

A symbol of the triumph of Christianity, the monastery was by far the most ambitious Franciscan building project in the Yucatan.