Why go
The contrast between carved façade and pillar-lined portico makes construction change visible in one part of the precinct. An early building with Puuc-style affinities was partly surrounded by later work; the adjacent hall and palace then organized a more extensive sequence of columned spaces.
The full story
The earliest structure had two rows of rooms set at right angles. Its façade survived unusually well because later builders enclosed it to support a small temple at a higher level, reached by a stair on the east rather than from the main court. Building the western colonnade required removal of the front row of rooms and filling the remains with masonry. The older façade had a sloping base, a plain lower wall, a three-part middle band with projecting serpent heads, and an upper zone of masks and rosettes. To its east, a long hall used six rows of square pillars. Partition walls were inserted among pillars at its eastern end, perhaps for stability or to create a smaller room; the reason is uncertain. South of it, the palace proper had a two-row portico of carved columns facing the court. A central entrance led through a narrow room to a rectangular hall, with further rooms to north and south. This sequence describes the historic plan, not a visitor route through the rooms.