Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
nial church and convent of Santo Domingo. Qorikancha was once the richest temple in the
Inca empire; all that remains today is the masterful stonework.
In Inca times, Qorikancha (Quechua for 'Golden Courtyard') was literally covered with
gold. The temple walls were lined with some 700 solid-gold sheets, each weighing about
2kg. There were life-sized gold and silver replicas of corn, which were ceremonially
'planted' in agricultural rituals. Also reported were solid-gold treasures such as altars, lla-
mas and babies, as well as a replica of the sun, which was lost. But within months of the
arrival of the first conquistadors, this incredible wealth had all been looted and melted
down.
Various other religious rites took place in the temple. It is said that the mummified bod-
ies of several previous
incas
(kings) were kept here, brought out into the sunlight each day
and offered food and drink, which was then ritually burnt. Qorikancha was also an obser-
vatory from which high priests monitored celestial activities. Most of this is left to the
imagination of the modern visitor, but the remaining stonework ranks with the finest Inca
architecture in Peru. A curved, perfectly fitted 6m-high wall can be seen from both inside
and outside the site. This wall has withstood all of the violent earthquakes that leveled
most of Cuzco's colonial buildings.
Once inside the site, the visitor enters a courtyard. The octagonal font in the middle was
originally covered with 55kg of solid gold. Inca chambers lie to either side of the court-
yard. The largest, to the right, were said to be temples to the moon and the stars, and were
covered with sheets of solid silver. The walls are perfectly tapered upward and, with their
niches and doorways, are excellent examples of Inca trapezoidal architecture. The fitting
of the individual blocks is so precise that in some places you can't tell where one block
ends and the next begins.
Opposite these chambers, on the other side of the courtyard, are smaller temples dedic-
ated to thunder and the rainbow. Three holes have been carved through the walls of this
section to the street outside, which scholars think were drains, either for sacrificial
chicha
(fermented corn beer), blood or, more mundanely, rainwater. Alternatively, they may have
been speaking tubes connecting the inner temple with the outside. Another feature of this
side of the complex is the floor in front of the chambers: it dates from Inca times and is
carefully cobbled with pebbles.
The temple was built in the mid-15th century during the reign of the 10th
inca,
Túpac
Yupanqui. After the conquest, Francisco Pizarro gave it to his brother Juan, but he was not
able to enjoy it for long - Juan died in the battle at Sacsaywamán in 1536. In his will, he
bequeathed Qorikancha to the Dominicans, in whose possession it has remained ever
since. Today's site is a bizarre combination of Inca and colonial architecture, topped with
a roof of glass and metal.
