Muyil Archaeological Site Reopens in Sian Kaan After Restoration

Felipe Carrillo Puerto, Quintana Roo — The Muyil archaeological site in the Sian Kaan ecological reserve has reopened to the public following extensive restoration and improvement work, with officials calling it an act of social justice and cultural preservation.

Quintana Roo Governor Mara Lezama Espinosa and José Luis Perea González, technical secretary of Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), led the reopening ceremony on Tuesday. The site had undergone rescue, restoration, and visitor facility upgrades including a new services unit, induction room, administrative offices, exhibition areas, and spaces for craft and food sales.

“Reopening Muyil, this archaeological zone, is an act of memory, identity, but also social justice,” said Governor Lezama. “That’s why I’m pleased the cooperatives are here, because it means shared prosperity for the people of the community, of Felipe Carrillo Puerto, who were passive spectators of tourism success and who today are the main protagonists.”

The governor highlighted the site’s proximity to the Felipe Carrillo Puerto International Airport and Maya Train services, which she said would bring more tourism, visitors, and shared prosperity to local communities.

Perea González emphasized Muyil’s historical significance as an inland port connected by navigable channels to the Caribbean for centuries. “It was a place of material and symbolic exchange, trade goods, but also calendars, stories, astronomical knowledge, and conceptions of balance between Mayan civilization and nature,” he said.

He added that this memory isn’t dead but lives in language, agricultural knowledge, community organization, and ritual practices of contemporary Mayan peoples. “Opening Muyil isn’t looking at the past,” Perea González said. “It’s recognizing a historical continuity that has never been interrupted.”

Additional improvements include an information center about Maya Train services and cooperative boats, an archaeologists’ camp, new and improved trails, visitor rest area signage, and new protective roofing for monuments.

Felipe Carrillo Puerto Mayor Mary Hernández stressed the importance of community participation around the archaeological zone so residents can benefit from productive activities that improve their quality of life.

The Muyil archaeological site is located 10 minutes from Tulum International Airport and the Maya Train station, on the Reforma Agraria-Puerto Juárez highway at kilometer 200, within the Chunyaxché ejido in Felipe Carrillo Puerto municipality.

Also attending the ceremony were Verónica Lezama Espinosa, honorary president of the Quintana Roo DIF system; Margarito Molina Rendón, director of INAH Quintana Roo Center; Heyden Cebada Rivas, president of the Superior Court of Justice; Enrique Alcalá Castañeda, academic lead for the Muyil Archaeological Source project; Arsenio Chan González, ejidal commissioner of Chunyaxché and annexes; Bernardo Cueto Riestra, tourism secretary; and Cristina Torres Gómez, government secretary.