City of Cusco, including Qorikancha (Inka main temple), Santo Domingo (Spanish colonial convent), and Walls at Saqsa Waman (Sacsayhuaman)

Walls at Saqsa Waman (Sacsayhuaman)

Qorikancha (Inka main temple)

City of Cusco, including Qorikancha (Inka main temple), Santo Domingo (Spanish colonial convent), and Walls at Saqsa Waman (Sacsayhuaman). Central highlands, Peru. Inka. c. 1440 C.E; convent added 1550–1650 C.E. Andesite.

• City was an axis mundi—the center of existence—and a reflection of Inka power. The city was divided into two sections, hanan (upper or high) and hurin (lower), which paralleled the social organization of Inka society into upper and lower moieties (social divisions). Cusco was further divided into quarters that reflected the four divisions of the empire, and people from those sections inhabited their respective quarters of the city.
• Each individual stone was pecked with tools and fitted to the one next to it; Twelve-Sided stone in the walls of Hatun Rumiyoq Street. Some sides of each stone were made to curve outward slightly, others to be slightly concave, so that the stones slotted together, while still allowing a small amount of movement. The ability to move a little was important in an area that is seismically active, protecting the walls from earthquakes.
• The city hummed with activity, both secular and religious. Not only the Inka rulers and their nobles resided in Cusco.
• At the heart of hurin Cusco was the Qorikancha (“Golden House”), the most sacred shrine of the Inka, dedicated to the worship of the sun. While the Inka had many gods, they claimed descent from the sun, whom they called Inti, and held the sun’s worship above all others. 
• The Qorikancha was the center point of the empire; After the conquest, the Qorikancha was one of many Inka shrines turned into a Christian holy space. The monastery and church of Santo Domingo were built around and on top of the original shrine, incorporating the old structure into the new one; Parts of the old temple are still visible, inside and out, alternating with Spanish Baroque architectural features; The riches of the Qorikancha would be taken in the looting of the city following the Spanish conquest in 1532, and melted down for their precious materials.
• Saqsa Wayman looks down on the city of Cusco from the northwest. The structure, with its zig-zagging walls; It is possible that it was never finished, or that parts of it were left incomplete at the time of conquest