Governor's Palace from Rear
The frieze on the sides and back of the Governor's Palace is much simpler than the design on the front of the building. Only three motifs are used: volutes spiraling in clockwise and counterclockwise directions, cross-hatch mat patterns, and stacks of Chac masks.
Transverse vaults
The west (back) of the Governor's Palace shows an almost identical transverse vault as its counterpart on the front, and the quality of the masonry remains superb.
About the masonry, Jeff Kowalski writes: "Not only is the House of the Governor magnificent in size and form, but it has superlatively finished masonry. The wall facing-stones and boot shaped vault stones are all expertly cut, pecked, and ground smooth, while the cut-stone mosaic facade elements possess a sharpness of detail not found in earlier Maya architecture."
Kowalski, House of the Governor, p. 239
Stacked masks recognizable from afar
Vertical stacks of Chac masks contrast with the diagonal placement of masks on the front of the building, where the only vertical mask stacks appear on corners. The placement of mask stacks as central elements gives the back of the palace a more static feel.
Since the designs on the rear and sides of the building were meant to be seen primarily from distant view points, the greater simplicity of the rear contributes to more easily discernable patterns.
Simplified design of rear frieze
This wider view of the rear frieze gives a better idea of its simplified design, consisting only of cross-hatch mat patterns, volutes spiraling in mirror reflections of each other, and Chac masks arranged in vertical stacks of five.