Cuzco History

Heart of the ancient Inca empire, Cuzco is located in the heart of the Andes at about 11,000 feet.  We’d recently been in Puno, and this was a bit lower.  We were glad to have arrived by land, since it gave us the chance to adjust to the altitude.  There are a number of stories about Cuzco´s founding, but one of the most common is that the first Inca was charged with finding the navel of the earth (Qosq’oin Quechua) and that Cuzco was that spot.  The city became the heart of the Inca empire, and a bit of earth from each new territory they conquered was brought here and mixed into the earth.  The 9th Inca designed the city in the shape of a puma, in another example of Inca mastery of urban planning.  They built temples, palaces, residences and countless other structures throughout the city.  Unfortunately, only a few of the Inca walls can still be seen today, as the Spanish built their churches and other buildings on top of the original structures after Francisco Pizarro murdered the 12th Inca and took over the city of Cuzco.

There was ongoing Inca resistance and rebellion, but the Spanish eventually forced the opposition to retreat or succumb.  Some were pushed further back into the Sacred Valley and later into the jungle.  We heard stories about this when we visited Pisaq and Ollantaytambo.  The history of the Inca and their culture is fascinating, and we felt vastly uninformed.  Museums and guides have helped, but I am definitely looking for a good book when we get home.

Cuzco Rediscovered

Cuzco started on the road to becoming the archaeological mecca it is today after Hiram Bingham “rediscovered” it in 1911.  There are countless other Inca sites in the mountains and valleys surrounding Cuzco, but we started our exploration in the city itself.  The Plaza de Armas is stunning, but the pressure from people offering tours, massages, artwork and handicrafts is relentless.   The Cathedral (which took 100 years to build on top of Inca Viracocha’s palace) is huge and austere, overshadowing most of the other buildings on the plaza.  Also on the square are the churches Compañia de Jesus (built on top of the palace of Inca Huayna Cápac in 1571 and later reconstructed after an earthquake in 1650), Jesús Maria and Triunfo (the first Christian church in Cuzco).

In the center of the plaza is a fountain, plantings and benches well-used by tourists and residents alike.  The colonial arcades surrounding the plaza are filled with restaurants, handicraft shops, money exchange houses, and tour operators.    A walk down the busy Avenida del Sol brought us to the spot where we purchased our 10-Day Tourist Ticket (Boleto Turistico), which gives us access to 16 points of interest in Cuzco and the surrounding areas. (We bought ours here: Oficina Ejecutiva del Comité: Av. Sol N° 103, open Mon-Fri 8 am to 5:30 pm & Sat from 8:30 to 12:30).  With history all around, it’s easy to see how the city of Cuzco was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1983. The following sites are included in the ticket:

In the city of Cuzco: Museum of Regional History (Museo de Historia Regional), Museum of Contemporary Art (Museo Palacio Municipal de Arte Contemporaneo), Koricancha Museum (Museo Arqueologico Koricancha), Museum of Popular Art (Museo de Arte Popular), Native Music and Dance Centre (Centro Qosqo de Arte Nativo, Pachacutec Monument (Monumento Pachacutec)

Outside the city: Saqsaywaman (Sacsayhuaman), Qenqo, Tambomachay, Pukapukara

In the Sacred Valley: Pisac, Ollantaytambo, Chinchero

To the south of Cusco: Pikillacta (near Urcos) and Tipon (mainly Inca terracing)

Around Town

Our first stop was the Inca site of Quoricancha.  This is said to have been one of the most impressive Inca structures of the old city.  It was the temple to the Sun god, Inti, and originally covered in gold.  The museum had some good displays of artifacts as well as historical information about the site and nearby areas.  There were a few spots on the grounds where you could see remains of aqueducts channeling water through the site.

Inca walls are visible in many of the side streets, alleys and pedestrian passages.  They have held up better than any other structures over time and against earthquakes.  On the narrow cobblestone street (Hatun Rumiyoc, or Street of the Great Stone) leading up to the Bohemian neighborhood of San Blas we passed the famous 12 angle stone in one of these walls (which can be seen on every bottle of Cusqueña beer).  The corners of the stone are carved perfectly to fit precisely in place against the other stones.  It´s amazing to think such precision was possible to accomplish by hand.  San Blas was quiet and peaceful in comparison to the hustle and bustle below.  It´s church looks simple from the outside, but is famous for its intricately carved pulpit, created from a single cedar tree.

Pre-Columbian Art Museum

Our last stop of the day was not part of the Tourist Ticket, but it was well worth a visit.  The Pre-Columbian Art Museum (Museo de Arte Precolombino) takes up 23 rooms of an old colonial house.  The setting seemed like an additional museum on its own.  The rooms started with history and pre-Inca cultures, some of which we had learned about along the way to Cuzco. (Mochica and Chimu north of Lima, Paracas and Nazca on the way south toward Arequipa, etc.)  The rooms got chronologically more recent, ending with Spanish occupation of the city.  In addition to the great collection, the views from the upper floor were spectacular.

After a day of settling in, we´ve found more local places to eat, avoiding the pricey tourist areas.  We had a quick dinner and called it an early night so we could head to the Sacred Valley bright and early in the morning.

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