In 1566, the pyramid was described by Friar Diego de Landa in the manuscript known as Yucatán at the Time of the Spanish Encounter ("Relación de las cosas de Yucatán"). Almost three centuries later, John Lloyd Stephens described the architecture of the pyramid with even more detail in his book "Incidents of Travel in Yucatán" ("Incidentes del viaje Yucatán"), published in 1843. At that time, the archaeological site of Chichén Itzá was located on an estate, also called Chichén Itzá, owned by Juan Sosa. Frederick Catherwood illustrated the book with lithographs depicting the pyramid covered in abundant vegetation on all sides. There are some photographs taken in the beginning of the twentieth century that also show the pyramid partially covered by said vegetation.