Thursday, 09 July 2009

• My Visit to Cuzco

  
  

  
  The Iglesia de La Compania De Jesus. Originally built by the Jesuits in 1571, the building was destroyed by an earthquake in 1650. During the rebuilding of the Church, the Jesuits made plans to make the Church the most ornate church in the city. The Jesuit's plans caused the Bishop of Cuzco to cry foul, citing that no church should out do the splendor of the Cathedral (La Catedral). The dispute was taken to the Pope for arbitration.
  

  
  

  
  La Catedral, the largest Cathedral in South America.
  
  
  

  
  

  Overlooking the city of Cuzco are the ruins of Tmade moot as construction was nearly complete.
  
  

  
  
  

  Sacsayhuaman. The ruins are frequently mistaken for a fortress, because of the role it played in the Siege of Cuzco. But according to our guide, Sacsayhuaman is a temple dedicated to the worship of the Sun. When the Spaniards seized power in Peru, they installed Manco Inca as their puppet. In response, Manco repaid the Spanish by raising a massive army and besieging the Spanish in Cuzco. Sacsayhuaman was used as a base of operations to oversee the siege. The siege ended when a small force of Spaniards seized  Sacsayhuaman in a daring raid. In the aftermath of the siege, much of the complex was torn down to provide building materials for
  

  
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  My Uncle and our guide standing alongside of one of the walls for size reference.
  
  

  
  My Uncle and I standing in front of the largest individual stone in the fortress, estimated to weigh 300 tons.
  
  

  
  The Church in the center of the picture is the Q'orikancha, the Temple of the Sun God and the Center of the Inca Empire.
  

   
  

  
  
  

  The Q'orikancha was considered the epicenter of the Inca Empire. When the Spaniards seized power,  the Q'orikancha was eventually given to the Dominican order, who built a church and convent over and around the remains of the temple. In 1950, a massive earthquake devastated Cuzco, but one of the after effects of the earthquake was that Inca remnants were rediscovered. An example of Inca masonry. The Incan masonry proved so difficult to tear down, that the Spaniards opted to build on (or in the case of the Q'orikancha) or around the Incan remnants.
  

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