Q'orikancha

There was in Cuzco a museum worth noting. Most of the historical sites and museums of interest fell into a tourist ticket that we would have to buy. One was not allowed to go to only one of these grouped sites without buying the ticket for them all. We decided that if it was all or nothing then it would be nothing. Machu Picchu was where our finances would land.

One Museum that we were able to see due to it being separate from the ticket described above. This museum was called Q'orikancha and it was worth every centimos spent on the entrance fee.

Q'orikancha was an important Inca temple in Cuzco. From what I understand it was placed in the exact center of the Inca empire. The city of Cuzco was build around it and the rest of the empire followed suit. When it was discovered by the spanish it held over 400 solid gold sheets lining the walls. The Spanish obviously recognized it as historically significant and left it alone... It was pillaged immediately. Its gold melted down, its holy places destroyed and a church erected in its place.

The church still stands today on the site of the temple. It is beautiful in its own right but its construction is overshadowed by the immense stone working skill of the Inca. Q'orikancha is constructed entirely of stones painstakingly shaped and fit together. The Inca used no mortar in their construction. The stones were notched and fit together. They even accounted for a plumbing system carving paths for water to flow through.

I can only imagine the time and effort put in to the choosing, transportation, shaping, and fitting of stones. I can imagine inventing new words and curses when something went wrong. I can hardly put a nail in a wall without something going wrong.

Below are photos from Q'orikancha. The first two are examples of inca stonework, the third is a contrast of spanish stonework. The fourth picture is a description of the layout of the Inca empire and the fifth is a painting of the description.