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Mérida is the capital of the autonomous community of Extremadura. Located in the western-central part of the Iberian Peninsula.
The city was Founded as a Roman colony in 25 BC under the order of the emperor Augustus to serve as a retreat for the veteran soldiers, it was one of the most important in Roman Hispania and was endowed with all the comforts of a large Roman city and served as capital of the Roman province of Lusitania since its founding and as the capital of the entire Diocese of Hispania during the Fourth Century.
Some 60 km south of Merida lie the spectacular ruins of the Mayan city of Uxmal, a name that means 'thrice-built' The rain god, Chac, was especially venerated here, perhaps because the city had no regular source of water to depend on. It boasts fine examples of what is known as the Puuc style of architecture, which is characterised by friezes of complex geometric patterns. Founded perhaps around 500 AD, the city flourished during the 9th and 10th centuries. It was still inhabited by the time the Spanish arrived in the early 16th century. This photograph is of the splendid structure known as the Palacio del Gobernador ('Governor's Palace'). Part of it may have served as an astronomical observatory. After visiting the ruins in 1840, John L Stephens wrote, 'if it stood this day on its grand artificial terrace in Hyde Park or the Garden of the Tuileries, it would form a new order ... not unworthy to stand side by side with the remains of Egyptian, Grecian and Roman art' (quoted in the 'Rough Guide to the Maya World').