World Art Utopia

Cliff Palace

The stone rooms, towers and round kivas of Cliff Palace fill a long alcove under an overhanging sandstone cliff in Mesa Verde National Park, with a group of visitors on the path below.
Artwork FileColorado, USA

Cliff Palace

SeenOct 2026

Ancestral Pueblo builders · Mesa Verde National Park

Photo: Tobi 87 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0), photo taken 8 July 2007, as published on Street Art Utopia.

Cliff Palace is a cliff dwelling of sandstone, mortar and wooden beams in Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado. The National Park Service says Ancestral Pueblo people built it between 1190 and 1280 CE, and that recent studies indicate 150 rooms and 23 kivas. Source Source Reported

Seen Oct 2026 — the National Park Service tours page, last updated 29 October 2026, says the 2026 Cliff Palace tour season ran from 4 May to 21 October and has concluded. Source Reported

💡 4 things to know

  1. More than a cluster of homesAccording to the National Park Service, recent studies indicate 150 rooms and 23 kivas, housing about 100 people. The Park Service says Cliff Palace is thought to have been a social and administrative site with high ceremonial use. Source Reported
  2. Small stones in the mortarThe Park Service names sandstone, mortar and wooden beams as the three main materials. Small pieces of stone, called chinking, filled gaps in the mortar and added stability. Source Reported
  3. A living linkUNESCO names Cliff Palace among Mesa Verde's dwellings and calls the park a significant and living link between Puebloan peoples' past and their present way of life. Source Reported
  4. Descendant voicesCyArk's virtual tour brings together Pueblo speakers and park archaeologist Chris McAllister. Its narrator calls Cliff Palace a sacred site for modern Pueblos and Tribes. Source Reported

📍 Where it is

Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, USA. It can only be entered on a ranger-guided tour, which the Park Service lists by season. Source Reported

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🗓️ Sightings

  1. 20078 Jul

    Tobi 87 photographs Cliff Palace

  2. 2015

    Park archaeologist: stabilisation work begins (CyArk tour)

  3. 202521 Apr

    NPS updates its Cliff Palace page; conditions monitored yearly

  4. 202629 Oct

    NPS tours page: 2026 Cliff Palace tour season ran 4 May–21 Oct

Green stamps mark dated photographs; amber stamps mark records or reports; red stamps mark loss. Publication dates are not camera dates.

🗞️ In the sources

National Park Service, Mesa Verde2026

“Built between 1190 and 1280 CE, Cliff Palace was once home to over 100 people.”

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UNESCO World Heritage Centren.d.

“Mesa Verde represents a significant and living link between the Puebloan Peoples' past and their present way of life.”

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CyArk (Satchel Martin, Hopi Tribe)n.d.

“They turned places like Cliff Palace from not just houses but into homes.”

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✅ The facts

Builders
Ancestral Pueblo people Source Source Reported
Built
1190–1280 CE, according to the NPS Source Reported
Rooms
150, according to the NPS Source Reported
Kivas
23, according to the NPS Source Reported
Residents
About 100 (NPS history page); over 100 (NPS tours page) Source Source Reported
Materials
Sandstone, mortar and wooden beams Source Reported
Place
Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado; part of the Mesa Verde World Heritage site Source Source Checked

🔗 Related

All sources & image credits

Last checked: 31 October 2026. How we verify art