Golden Qorikancha !!!

After killing the the Inca king Atahualpa, the Spanish explorer Francisco Pizarro's men took over Cusco city  on November of 1533. They were simply blown away by the sheer quantity of gold they found inside the Qorikancha, the Sun temple in Cusco.  For the Incas, the Qorikancha was a sacred temple to worship the Sun, Moon, Stars, Rainbows, Lightning and Thunder. It was also used as a Solar Observatory. The Incas placed the shrine for the Sun at the elliptical wall at the Qorikancha. The Incas associated gold with the Sun and silver with the Moon. For them, gold is more religious than anything else. The top few feet of the walls of the Qorikancha were covered with gold to reflect the sunlight inside the temple. The Spaniards also found solid gold  sculptures of Llamas, Corn, vegetables and a large altar made of gold.  Unfortunately, within a month, all the gold and the solid gold sculptures were melted and shipped back to Spain.

Model of the Qorikancha showing the elliptical wall, the gold covered wall tops and the solid gold sculptures.

The Dominicans dismantled the Qorikancha and used the polished stones to build the Santa Domingo church and the convent on top of the foundation and the walls of the Qorikancha. Over many generations, people forgot about the Qorikancha.  On 21st May, 1950 a major earthquake hit Cusco. It brought down the walls of the Santa Domingo Church, exposing Qorikancha's walls. The then Peruvian government worked with the Spanish government and restored some parts of the Qorikancha. Based on the Qorikancha's ruins and the colonial architecture, Cusco was declared as  a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1983. 

The view of the elliptical wall from outside as it looks today. You can see the old Inca structures and the
Santa Domingo Church on top of it. The 1950 earthquake exposed
the foundation and the walls of the original Qorikancha.

The elliptical wall from inside. The stones are tightly locked together without mortar and this wall
has survived many earthquakes in the Cusco region!

These are some of the walls that were hidden under the Santa Domingo Church until the 1950 earthquake.

Since the stones used were not of the same size and weight, each wall had different number of
windows and niches to make sure the weights of all the walls are uniform.

Perfectly aligned windows. The third window is 60 feet away. Our guide was explaining that the Incas used
Llama intestines filled with water to check each wall is at level.

The Incas used many different types of interlocking to hold the stones of various sizes. They never used mortar,
the reason these walls survived many earthquakes.

It is believed this niche held the mummy of a Inca King and the empty holes around
the niche contained precious stones which were all removed by the Spaniards.

This is a model of the Incas' Cosmovision. The big oval shape in the top
represents the Incas' creator Viracocha. There are two hierarchies
shown. On the left is the male hierarchy showing the Sun,
Venus(morning), Lord Earth and a Man. On the right side is the
female hierarchy Moon, Venus(evening), Mother Sea and a Female.

Spanish Arches built over the Inca walls of the Qorikancha.

Courtyard of the Santa Domingo Church and Convent. On the right side is the long wall from the earlier photos.
When the Spaniards took over the Qorikancha, the eight sided sacrificial font at the center had been
covered with 55 Kilograms of gold!