City Tour Cathedral inca Living Town

Churches, the Basilica-style Cathedral. This church is considered one of the oldest and most beautiful in South America, and was constructed by Indigenous artists and architects under Spanish supervision. The Cathedral is home to two pipe organs from the 17th century. This area was the first burial site of the Spanish and has crypts, as opposed to catacombs, underfoot. Over 500 original oil paintings from the 17th century line the walls of the Cathedral, painted by local artisans of the Cusquenian School of Arts. Many of these works combine Spanish with local culture, as you will see in a painting of the Last Supper, which famously depicts cuy (guinea pig) and other regional foods as part of the meal at a round instead of a rectangular table. From the Cathedral, we walk to Qoricancha, the Sun Temple.

City tour Cusco – Qoricancha inca temple

The so-called Sun Temple is located two blocks from the Plaza de Armas. Qoricancha is considered the most important Inka temple in the 15th century, dedicated to honoring the Sun. Nowadays, it is part of a Dominican Order Monastery, and within the church and the monastery we still find many Inca remains. The robust interlocking stone block architecture of Qoricancha outlasted an earthquake centuries after its construction which crumbled the plaster that the Spanish had used to build over top of the Inca walls. Gold and silver statues in the adjoining garden were redistributed by the Spanish, who were motivated primarily by metal riches and the conquest of religion.  Approximately 70 % of the statues were sent to other churches, 20 % to Spain, and the rest was kept by the conquistadores. The tour continues outside of the city, at Saqsaywaman.

Saqsaywaman Inca Site

This important archaeological site is located about 15 minutes from Cusco. The area is considered the most marvelous Inka site because we can see huge stone blocks weighing from 60 to 130 tons incorporated into the building walls. Larger stones were transported from an on-site quarry, but smaller ones, which are still incredibly heavy, were brought from a granite quarry approximately six kilometers away from a neighboring mountain. The site took between 50 and 70 years to construct, an effort of about 22,000 individuals. Many of the buildings were destroyed during the Spanish conquest, but their foundations remain. Digital reconstructions of the buildings give us an idea of what this site may have looked like at the height of its use. Saqsaywaman was an important ceremonial area in the Inca Empire, and is believed to have been a site where young people came to participate in competitive games and dances, in addition to the sun festivals and defensive advantage held by the view of Cusco from Saqsaywaman.

Q’enqo Sacred Incan Building

Q’enqo was a burial chamber where mummified members of royal society were found, and also served as a ceremonial place for the toad, the god of rain. In an underground chamber through which we will pass, there is a solid stone table which, out of the light of the sun and in contact with the ground, is surprisingly cold to the touch. On this table, mummies were prepared and preserved. This passage also has an area where a silvered mirror was placed to light the chamber using the reflected light of the sun.

Tambomachay ( Temple of Mother Nature)

Tambomachay is located in one of the world’s largest road systems of the Inka Civilization. It is considered the Water Temple because of the three flowing fountains which were built over the Pre-Inka shrines.

Pukapukara inca fortres

This incan site was one of the important place considered as inca control, this building was big control for incan people as a check point to be in cusco city or in sun temple. was one of biggest entrances to cusco, the main path as a inca trail