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The famous Sun Temple of Qosqo was and is in practice
a synthesis of the Inkan organization, architecture and religion; that
had already reached the summit of their level by 1438. It possibly
represented the "Navel of the World"; therefore, the world's center in
the pre-Hispanic Andean Cosmovision.
According to our history, it was the first Inka, Manko Qhapaq who built
the original temple. But, it was the ninth, Pachakuteq who since 1438
reconstructed, enlarged, improved and modernized the most important
religious complex of the vast Inkan Society. There are certain
discrepancies about the complex's original name, and though they are not
antagonistic ones, they cause a relative confusion. Frequently in
chronicles and history treatises the name Intiwasi is found, (inti= sun,
wasi= house) it means "Sun House"; also the name Intikancha is used and
which would mean "Sun Palace" (this is considering that almost all Inkan
palaces had the noun "Kancha"). While that its most popular name is
Qorikancha that would mean "Golden Palace". Maria Rostworowski suggests
that the ancient temple was known as "Intikancha" and after Pachakuteq
as "Qorikancha".
All the chroniclers coincide manifesting that the quality of the
building was extraordinary, made with gray basaltic andesites coming
from the quarries of Waqoto and Rumiqolqa. The walls have the
"Sedimentary" or "Imperial Inkan" type that is the maximum expression of
architecture in pre-Columbian America. The stones are between medium to
large which outer surface is rectangular; the structure is straight
horizontal that in the most important temples exhibit side views with
marked convexity. The joints between stones are polished, so perfectly
made that they do not allow insertion of even "razor blade". The cross
section structure is "tied up", that is, with "H" shaped bronze clamps
or clips in the internal joints that fastened together the lithic pieces
avoiding harmful horizontal displacements in case of earthquakes. The
wall also have a decreasing vertical structure, that is, with bigger
stones in the lower part and every time smaller toward the top. The
walls are wider in the base than on the top; with the classical
inclination inward (there is not a general rule or measurement for that
inclination) balanced with the trapezoidal shape of doorways, niches and
openings. Those characteristics make the walls support themselves
forming a resistant, solid, anti-seismic structure that was able to
resist the two huge earthquakes after the Spanish invasion, in 1650 and
1950 that destroyed every tough colonial building. Today in some Inkan
walls of the complex there are a few cracks. They are not a result of
bad calculation or technique of the Quechua architects, but simply,
consequence of changes carried out in colonial times, the earthquakes
and mainly exposition to inclement weather and erosion after all of
them. According to some studies the finely carved stone walls had a
continuation of sun-dried mud-bricks on the top forming very steep gable
ends in order to enable drainage of rain waters. The roofing was
thatched made in wood and "ichu" the wild Andean bunch grass, with eaves
projecting out about 1.6 mts. (5.25 ft); roofs which modest aspect was
remedied in festivity days when they were covered with showy
multicolored rugs made with special feathers. Gasparini believes that
the often mentioned by chroniclers "gold edging" that served as a crown
surrounding the whole outer upper side of the temple served, more over,
in order to dissemble the difference between the fine stone wall and the
upper adobe wall. The floor in the open areas of the temple must have
been completely and finely paved with flagstones while the floors inside
the enclosures were surely made with kilned clay as a solid ceramic
block like the treated floors found in Machupicchu.
The temple's main gate faced toward the Northeast; almost in the same
position of the present-day entrance to the Santo Domingo (St. Dominic)
Convent, overlooking the Intipanpa ("Sun Plaza") that today occupies the
small park in front. According to chroniclers this was a religious
complex constituted by temples dedicated to different deities. It had a
layout very similar to that of a classical "kancha"; with enclosures
around a central patio where according to Cieza de Leon, every doorway
was veneered with gold plates.
The Sun Temple stood out in the complex, covering the space occupied
today by the Santo Domingo Catholic Church. Its eastern end was
completely demolished while the western one still subsists partially
forming what is known as "solar round building", that is, the
semicircular wall overlooking the present-day Arrayan street and the
Avenida el Sol. The Sun Temple had its four walls and even the wooden
ceiling completely covered with gold plates and planks, according to
Garcilaso's description it must had a rectangular floor plan, with a
very high thatched roof for facilitating ventilation. It is worth
pointing out that whom gives the most detailed information about the
subject is the famous Cusquenian Chronicler Garcilaso de la Vega, who
wrote as it is indicated by himself: "... what I swallowed in the milk
and saw and heard from my ancestors...". On the eastern wall of this
temple must have been the facade and Main Altar that as it is known
contained the representation of the Sun God in a gold plate with the
shape of a "round face and rays and flames". That solar representation
was so huge that it covered all the temple front from wall to wall; in
the treasures distribution among the conquerors, that golden piece
corresponded by casting of lots to Mancio Sierra de Leguisamo, an
inveterate gambler who lost it during one night playing dices; event by
which the famous saying " bet the sun before dawn" was created.
Chronicler Sarmiento de Gamboa suggests that Pachakuteq ordered a layout
so that the Sun would occupy the main place along with the Wiraqocha god
representation on its right side and that of Chuquiylla (it must be
"Chuki Illapa" or thunder, lightning and thunderbolt) to its left side.
Also, on both sides of the Sun image were the "Mallki" (mummies or
embalmed bodies in a fetal position) of the dead Inka Kings, according
to their antiquity, and over litters of solid gold.
In the Andean Cosmogony it was considered that the Moon or Mamakilla was
the Sun's wife. Therefore, the Moon Temple was located on the eastern
side of the Solar Temple; it had a rectangular floor plan with the best
quality of architecture, unfortunately it was almost completely
destroyed in order to built the Catholic Church. One of its gates is
still seen as well as its eastern wall with the classical trapezoidal
niches. Among those niches is the horizontal dark stripe that is
believed to be the support zone of the silver plates that covered
completely its walls. In the center of the temple there was a silver
Moon representation and on both sides of it the embalmed bodies of the
dead Qoyas (Queens), according to their antiquity.
In the eastern side of the Moon temple; divided by a narrow passage with
an impressive double jamb doorway that has a stone having 14 angles on
its outer faces, is the Temple of Ch'aska and the Stars (Ch'aska = Venus
star). In Inkan times, stars were special deities, considered as "moon's
maids" that played a very important role in astral observation and
future prediction with relationship to weather, agriculture, prosperity,
welfare, etc. Even today Andean peasants (descendants of Inkas) observe
the brightness of stars formed in constellations in order to foresee
their future. For example, almost always when some stars are very shiny
they mean that during next farming season there will be droughts. Three
walls of the temple are almost complete, the fourth wall toward the West
was destroyed in colonial times, but was reconstructed following its
original characteristics (Today, if it is possible just restorations are
made with the original materials or stones; giving more importance to
protection and solidification works in the monument. A reconstruction is
carried out with new or modern materials and techniques, with original
shapes or designs resulting a new building with ancient taste; that is a
deceit in a certain way). The Venus Temple has a considerable size; it
is surrounded by 25 trapezoidal niches that as in most of the cases were
used for keeping some idols, offerings and elements related to the cult
of stars. Also over here by the middle of the niches is the horizontal
stripe that supported the silver "planks" covering this temple. More
over, all the ceiling of this inclosure had star representations of
different sizes "like the starry sky". It has two very high entrance
gates and in the wall, between them, are two very special trapezoidal
niches having carvings of stripes and hollows around, to which Garcilaso
call "tabernacles". One of those niches overlooks inside the temple and
the other outside, but they occupy the same high on both wall sides.
Originally they were veneered with gold plates and planks, and "... on
the molding's corners there were many enchasings of precious stones such
as emeralds and turquoises...". Inside the temple, close to a corner and
over the stone wall, there is a plaster coat with murals that are a
souvenir of the colonial occupation of this amazing temple. The Inkan
walls were used as foundations for the mud-brick colonial building that
is still seen over the rear stone wall.
In front of the Stars Temple, on the other side of the present-day
central patio is the Temple of "Illapa" or "Chuki Illapa". Illapa is a
deity compound of thunder, lightning and thunderbolt that was considered
as "sun's servant". According to Inkan Religion Illapa was the "Storms
God", the ruler of rain, hail and snow, the hurler of thunderbolts; its
shrine was adorned with gold. It has 3 trapezoidal single jamb doorways
and its present-day northwestern lateral wall was partially
reconstructed following its original characteristics. That inclosure is
smaller than the previously described temples, with walls having the
classical trapezoidal niches and two windows in its lateral walls; on
the upper side of the front wall there are carved moldings which duties
are unknown.
Toward the west of the Illapa sanctuary is the Temple of K'uychi
(Rainbow), which original size and characteristics were similar to those
of the previous; but, it was partially mutilated on its northwest
portion in order to build the Dominican Convent. The Rainbow was another
important divinity in the Inkan Society because it was considered that
it came from the sun, therefore, the Inka Kings adopted it as their
emblem because they boasted of being descendants of the Sun. In the
"Tawantinsuyo" they used an Unancha, that is, an emblem or flag having
the 7 colors of the rainbow; that banner was recovered and today is used
as Qosqo City's flag. That temple was completely adorned with gold and
over one of its walls there was a rainbow painted over the gold plates
covering the whole temple. In the Peruvian Andes there are popular
beliefs that are effective since immemorial times, thus for example,
when peasant kids see a rainbow in the sky, they immediately cover their
mouths with their hands or simply turn back because it is believed that
the multicolored phenomenon spoils and rots the teeth when discovering
them, or undermines human bones when pointed with the fingers. On the
lateral eastern side there is a trapezoidal window coinciding exactly in
size, shape, height and level with the other two ones of the Illapa
temple, creating an excellent perspective. Those three windows are
leveled; for leveling Quechuas used water based devices. Water was
stored in a ceramic jar with two small holes as finders in two opposing
ends that constituted an incipient but useful level.
Between the K'uychi and Illapa temples there is an open area in which on
the rear wall there are three finely carved channels to which tradition
and popular imagination call "phonic channels" because when being hit
they emit "different musical notes". However, what is true is that those
channels that are on the original ground level served for draining rain
waters concentrated in the complex's central patio, similar channels are
found in all the complexes or buildings that did not have any roofs.
Obviously, inside the whole complex there were different enclosures for
the "Willaq Uma" (High Priest) and the others priests of less hierarchy;
as well as spaces for sheltering the different idols coming from the
submitted or incorporated nations that were concentrated inside the
Qorikancha. Like this they allowed the cult of conquered people, so that
if there were rebellion attempts in the conquered nations, reprisals in
Qosqo were against their gods, producing thus the religious intimidation
that gave many benefits to the Inkas.
In the complex's southern sector there was a terracing that reached even
as far as the edge of the channeled Saphi River (today the river flows
underground the Avenida el Sol). The terraces were part of the
Qorikancha's Solar Garden which was probably the most extraordinary
example of wealth found in this temple. It was a very special garden
because it contained samples of the regional flora and fauna and even
persons sculpted in natural size, made of gold and silver. Early
chroniclers wrote that those were so many the animals, from insects to
mammals; the plants, from small flowers to native trees; many the
children, men and women, and numerous other precious metal objects made
by Quechua goldsmiths occupying this exceptional garden. Until some
decades ago it was argued that chroniclers had written many lies and
fantasies about this; nevertheless, archaeological diggings carried out
were slowly demonstrating the truth of chronicles, as some golden plant
and animal shaped artifacts were found. The magnificence, quality and
amount of objects in this garden left astounded all the conquerors that
saw it. Those objects were collected forming part of the conquest booty
and later melted down in order to make coins or bars to facilitate their
transportation to Spain. That is one of the reasons why in the Peruvian
museums there are not important Inkan artifacts of precious metals.
It is evident that the Qorikancha was the richest, most elaborate and
dazzling temple of the Inkan Society; over here was concentrated the
gold and silver of its territory. Those metals arrived as offerings for
the sacred city and the temple. In the Inkan Society precious metals did
not have any economic value but their main value was just religious.
There were some other elements that were even more valuable than gold
and silver, for example, colored conch shells or "mullu" (Spondylus sp.)
that came from the Ecuadorian coasts; they were highly appraised because
they represented the "Qochamama" or "Mother Sea". The Inkan gold was
extracted from divers veins or mines, and another large portion was
panned in the Amazonian rivers where gold is found as dust or nuggets
among the sand. Gold dust was concentrated or brought together with
mercury and then burned at high temperatures in order to liberate the
gold from mercury. The use of mercury among Quechuas was very controlled
due to its harmfulness. Silver is still abundant in the Andean Countries
that have an important production of that metal.
More over, in this vast complex there were 5 Water Fountains, in which
flowed clean water transported through underground channels; the water
springs or sources were kept completely secret. Those water fountains
had religious duties as water was another deity in the Andean Religion;
they were also adorned with precious metals, had golden spillways, and
large gold and silver jars. In colonial times the water was dried up as
a consequence of lack of maintenance and on-purpose destruction.
Garcilaso indicates that he saw just one of them: the last one that
Dominican monks used to irrigate their vegetable garden. Since 1975, the
convent and church were reconstructed, at the same time some
archaeological digs were performed too; they finally made possible
finding one of the 5 original fountains. It is located lower and before
the "solar round building"; water still flows through its finely carved
channels. It is possible that in the future remains of the other
fountains described by Garcilaso will be found. Until 1990 most of the
Solar Garden's space was covered by different buildings; thanks to a law
that was put into effect by the end of the 80s, the central government
and especially the Qosqo's Municipality bought the lands and houses of
the sector and some archaeological works were carried out. The aim was
to uncover our past and make known the so little that is left from the
complex's greatness; which as Spanish soldier Cieza de Leon wrote "...
finally, it was one of the rich temples existing in the world."
In the middle of the cloister's central patio is an eight sided fountain
carved in a single andesite piece that according to some historians it
has Inkan manufacture. However, its shape and characteristics are not
classical in Inkan stonemasonry. Therefore, if it was carved in Inkan
times it must had another shape that was transformed in colonial times.
Also today, around the archways there is a collection of canvases
representing the life of Saint Dominic Guzman painted by anonymous local
Cusquenian School artists.
After the distribution of houses and palaces during the Spanish
invasion, the Qorikancha corresponded to Juan Pizarro who donated it to
the Dominican Order represented by the first bishop of Qosqo City Fray
Vicente Valverde. He immediately executed construction of their church
and convent over the most important Inkan Temple demolishing it almost
completely for adapting it to its new use. That original church was
destroyed by an earthquake on March 31, 1650. Subsequently, the
present-day structure was raised as well as the tower in 1780 with an
elaborate baroque under direction of Fray Francisco Muñoz. On May 21st.
1950 another violent earthquake destroyed a large part of the convent
and church as well as its tower leaving uncovered many Inkan structures
and the interior area of the "Solar Round Building". By that time a
strong "Indigenist Movement" suggested the relocation of the church and
recovery of the Sun Temple; it is a pity that Catholic Church's
political power did not allow that attempt for clearing the ruins of the
major Tawantinsuyo's sanctuary.
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