The name of the ancient city of Cuzco in
the native Quechua language was Aqhamama, which was changed later by the Inca
to Qosqo, and then by the Spaniards to Cuzco. Long before the Inca arrived in
the valley, there were temples and plazas built there by an ancient culture,
with the most important ones the Temple of the Sun and the smaller Temple of
the Moon.
When the Spaniards arrived, they tore down
these ancient buildings and used the foundations to build their own
structures. Over the area of the ancient Temple of the Sun they built a
Baroque church of Santa Domingo.
Koricancha (Qorickancha), the Temple of the Sun, a Baroque church of
Santa Domingo in Cuzco, pales in comparison to the fine masonry (bottom right)
of an earlier people. Attributed to the Inca by unknowing historians, the fine
stone curved wall is reminiscent of the stonework of Sacsayhuaman above the
city built long before the Inca came to power. Beneath this Spanish Church lies
the old Temple of the Sun which predates the Inca empire
Two types of construction can be
seen on the Church of Santa Domingo today, first, the base that was originally
built by an ancient culture, with the smooth, rounded stones reminding one of
the stonework on the cliff over looking Cuzco known today as Sacsayhuaman,
another structure built by an ancient culture.
The other noted stonework on the
Church seen today is what was built by the Spaniards, who forced the Inca to do
the building. That stonework is nowhere near as professional in appearance and
purpose as the foundation and stone walls below. The original structure was
called Qurikancha in Quechua, Quri Kancha, "Enclosure of Gold," and was made
of polished stones and fitted perfectly. When the Inca moved into the valley,
they changed the name to Inti Wasi, "Sun House" and performed numerous rituals and offerings to the
sun god, which they worshiped.
Note the dark stonework in the middle of the image—work done by an
ancient culture and not duplicated by the Inca work (yellowish brick) of the
walls around it or the church on top of it
The Spanish called it Coricancha (courtyard of gold),
which lies now in the Old City beneath the Church of Santa Domingo, but
one can still see portions of the extraordinarily crafted Temple
of the Sun (Templo del
Sol) wall that surrounds the base of the Spanish church. Qurikancha
was the most extravagant temple built that pre-dated the Inca Empire, but the
Inca used it, having some 4,000 priests and their attendants once living within
its confines. Qurikancha also served as the main astronomical observatory for the
pre-Incas who built it.
According to several Spanish
chroniclers who came with or right after the Conquistadors, there were hundreds
of gold panels lining the original temple’s interior walls, and there were
life-size gold figures, solid-gold altars, and a huge golden sun disc. The sun
disc reflected the sun and bathed the temple in light. During the summer
solstice, the sun still shines directly into a niche where only the Inca
chieftain was permitted to sit. Other temples and shrines also existed for the
worship of lesser natural gods during Inca times: the moon, Venus, thunder,
lightning, and rainbows. Terraces that face the Temple of the Sun were once
filled with life-size gold and silver statues of plants and animals.
Much of Qurikancha's wealth was
removed to pay ransom for the captive Inca Atahualpa at the time of the Spanish
conquest. After murdering Atahualpa, the Spaniards looted the temple and
emptied it of gold. About all that is left of the original temple are the
exquisite polished stone walls that were used as the foundations of the
Dominican Convent of Santa Domingo, today forming perhaps Cusco's most jarring
imperial-colonial architectural juxtaposition.
The ancient chroniclers Garcilaso de la
Vega and Cieza de Leon described underground tunnels and a labyrinth of passage
ways that led from the Sacsayhuaman citadel high on the cliff overlooking the
Cuzco Valley to the Temple of the Sun below. In fact, Garcilaso claims to have
actually played in these tunnels as a boy growing up in Cuzco, where he was
born to a Spanish officer and an Incan princess. Anselm Pi Rambla, a
researcher, explorer and internationally recognized expert in ancient cultures,
and who has worked with the Peruvian government on important endeavors relating
to preserving Peru’s national cultural heritage, claims to have found tunnels
that may form part of a series of galleries, chambers, fountains and ancient
mausoleums, which are thought to be under the city of Cuzco. He has provided
ground-penetrating radar images (see previous post) that show the possibility of a subterranean
tunnel that links directly to the Temple of the Sun or Qurikancha, with the
Convent of Santa Catalina or Marcahuasi, with the Cathedral or Temple of Inca
Wiracocha, with the palace of Huascar, with the Temple of Manco Capac or
Colcampata and with the Huamanmarca.
Whether the Peruvian government will open
the tunnels they have blocked off is unknown, and whether Pi Rambla’s claims
will be shown to be correct, is also unknown. However, what we do know about is the
enormous structures found in Cuzco and on the cliff overlooking the valley. We
can also see where actual Inca work is far inferior to the polished stonework
of the original Temple of the Sun in the valley and Sacsayhuaman on the cliff.
The height of the stone walls, so intricately cut and fitted, is
remarkable, and there are three such walls surround the ancient structure of
Sacsayhuaman, and inside, before the Spaniards destroyed it, were buildings
built of these same stones so immense it could have held over 100,000 people,
with round 5-story towers looking down over the valley below, an enormous
temple, and numerous other buildings across this vast area
It is also very obvious that both these
ancient structures were built long before the Inca arrived in Cuzco, and though
mistakenly attributed to them by modern historians, the work predated them by
more than a thousand years. The area is so large, the building so vast and
immense, that a single picture, even a series of pictures, cannot do it
justice. Only a personal visit can impress one with what was achieved here and
the importance of the area, and how well it was structured to guard against an
enemy from the south.
The workmanship of carving seats in solid
stone is another remarkable fete accomplished by this ancient culture and
reminds one of Nephi’s words, “And I did teach my people to
build buildings, and to work in all manner of wood, and of iron, and of copper,
and of brass, and of steel, and of gold, and of silver, and of precious ores,
which were in great abundance. And I, Nephi, did build a temple; and I did
construct it after the manner of the temple of Solomon save it were not built
of so many precious things; for they were not to be found upon the land,
wherefore, it could not be built like unto Solomon's temple. But the manner of
the construction was like unto the temple of Solomon; and the workmanship
thereof was exceedingly fine. And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did cause my
people to be industrious, and to labor with their hands” (2 Nephi 5:15-17)
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