Tulum Tourist Letters Restored With Ancient Maya Techniques and Natural Pigments

Tulum, Quintana Roo — The iconic tourist letters in Tulum’s main park are being restored using pre-Hispanic techniques inspired by ancient Maya art, in a project that aims to revive ancestral methods through handcrafted stucco and natural pigments.

The work is led by sculptor, ceramist, and self-taught Maya culture researcher Luis Manuel May Kú. He explained that the process involves applying a fine stucco layer over the stone surface, then adding natural pigments — including Maya blue, red, yellow, and green — made from locally sourced minerals and earths.

“I am doing an intervention on these stone letters with a pre-Hispanic style, just as the ancient Maya did,” May Kú said. “It’s a very fine stucco on the stone that serves as a base to receive the natural pigments I manufacture, such as Maya blue, red, yellow, and green. We are going to try to give color to these letters so the result is as close as possible to how the Maya decorated murals in pre-Hispanic archaeological sites.”

Unlike other monumental letters installed in tourist destinations across Mexico, this project uses no industrial or acrylic paints, only materials created through artisanal processes.

May Kú noted that the technique is backed by nearly a decade of research focused on collecting regional earths and minerals, as well as developing methods to stabilize pigments using plants and other natural elements inspired by ancient Maya procedures.

The initiative arose from an interest by Mayor Diego Castañón Trejo in promoting actions related to preserving and spreading Maya cultural heritage, May Kú said.

The project also aims to bring these ancestral techniques to the public through pre-Hispanic pottery workshops for Maya communities, strengthening knowledge and appreciation of Quintana Roo’s cultural traditions.