The Inca had their most impressive buildings there, and of course it was the first place the Spanish Invaders took over when they arrived with their guns and cavalry in 1533...
The Spanish of course weren't quite happy with the temples etc that the Inca had built over the previous few centuries, so they knocked most of the buildings down, leaving only the original Inca stone foundations to construct their own new Spanish buildings on top. What remains now is a really interesting city with most of the original Inca street layout still intact, and some of the oldest and most interesting Spanish Colonial buildings in South America perched on top of these massive Inca stone blocks.
This building has some of the most impressive stone work I´ve seen - It was the Inca High Priest´s palace, and hence the most elaborate building the Inca built in Cuzco. I´d love to know how they managed to cut these stone blocks so perfectly (and so would everybody else), with 
each fitting together like a jigsaw puzzle. There´s no mortar or cement in use here, just well cut lumps of rock that don't move. These walls have survived a whole bunch of earthquakes over the last few hundred years and you still couldn´t slide a razor blade between them. The blocks in the wall in the photo above were cut in such a way that they display clearly the pattern of a puma, a snake and a condor, though unfortunately you can´t see that in the photo.
On the opposite side of the temple were large panels embedded with gold and jewels - though the Spaniards pulled those sections out long ago and filled in the gaps with their own style of wall building.
Around Cuzco are countless other ruins...
The local kids play in the shadows of the Inca Temples
Further on down the Valley is the Town of Ollantaytambo, which is surrounded by mountains littered with Inca buildings, terraces and fortresses. This was the only place the Spanish lost a major battle with the Inca.
Other views of Ollantaytambo.....
No comments:
Post a Comment