Standing at an elevation of approximately 3,400 meters above sea level near the ancient confluence of the Huatanay (Saphi) and Tullumayo rivers in the southeastern sector of the Historic Centre of Cusco, the monumental complex of the Coricancha Temple of the Sun and Convent of Santo Domingo presents one of the most dramatic architectural palimpsests in the Americas. As a visitor approaches from the broad avenue of Avenida El Sol or steps onto the stone paving of the Plazoleta de Santo Domingo, two distinct civilizations appear fused into a single vertical silhouette: forming the massive lower podium is a sweeping, parabolic curved wall of dark grey diorite and andesite blocks fitted together with such microscopic precision that not even a razor blade can penetrate the dry joints without mortar; rising directly atop that pre-Columbian wall are the whitewashed limestone arcades, plateresque loggia, and sculpted seventeenth-century Baroque bell tower of the Dominican Priory of Santo Domingo.
In the spiritual memory of the Andean world and within the comparative study of Ancestor Veneration alongside Spanish Vice-Regal Catholicism, Coricancha is far more than an archaeological ruin. Throughout the imperial age of the Inca realm (known in Quechua as Tawantinsuyu, the Land of the Four Quarters), this precinct functioned as the axis mundi of the empire: the astronomical observatory, the point of origin for the four imperial highways, and the supreme dynastic mausoleum-temple where the reigning Sapa Inca communed with his divine progenitor, the Sun God Inti, and with the sacred mummified bodies of all deceased Inca emperors and queens (the Mallki). Together with Cusco Cathedral on the Plaza de Armas a few blocks north and the Monastery of Santa Catalina de Siena, Arequipa in southern Peru, Coricancha stands as an enduring testament to the encounter between indigenous Andean sacred science and European monasticism.
IThe Sun God Inti, the Royal Ancestral Mummies (Mallki), and the Cosmological Ceque Network of Tawantinsuyu
The Hispanicized name Coricancha derives from the Quechua compound Qorikancha (also rendered Qurikancha), combining Qori (refined gold) and Kancha (a walled enclosure, courtyard compound, or sacred precinct), meaning the Golden Enclosure or Courtyard of Gold. During the early pre-imperial period of Cusco's history, attributed by oral tradition to the founding ancestor Manco Capac around the twelfth century CE, the sanctuary on this ridge bore the name Inti Kancha (Enclosure of the Sun), serving as both the residence of the early rulers and the ancestral shrine of the Cusco valley. Around 1438, following his decisive victory over the neighboring Chanka confederacy, the ninth ruler Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui (reigned 1438 to 1471) replanned the entire capital of Cusco in the sacred effigy of a reclining mountain lion (Puma) and completely rebuilt Inti Kancha into the imperial state sanctuary of Qorikancha.
According to sixteenth- and seventeenth-century chroniclers including Inca Garcilaso de la Vega (in his Comentarios Reales de los Incas of 1609), Pedro Cieza de Leon, and Bernabe Cobo, Qorikancha brought together the celestial pantheon of the high Andes under one enclosure. At the apex stood the invisible Creator Deity Apu Kon Titi Viracocha (Wiracocha) and the state deity Inti (the Sun), revered as the direct divine father of the royal Inca lineage. Within the main Sanctuary of the Sun hung the celebrated golden solar effigy known as Punchao (the Daylight Sun), a massive disc and anthropomorphic figure of pure cast gold encrusted with emeralds and turquoise, positioned so that the first rays of the rising sun struck its surface and filled the gold-plated chamber with blinding radiance.
What makes Coricancha a supreme monument of Ancestor Veneration in world religious history is the institution of the Mallki. In the Quechua language of the Andes, the word mallki simultaneously denotes a newly planted fruit-bearing sapling and the sacred, artificially preserved mummified body of a deceased progenitor or Sapa Inca emperor. In Andean cosmology, physical death did not sever a ruler's active participation in the life of the community; rather, preserved through high-altitude freeze-drying and aromatic mountain herbs, the deceased monarch became a living ancestral seed (mallki) whose spiritual force guaranteed agricultural fertility, timely rains, and dynastic legitimacy.
Inside the main solar temple of Coricancha, arranged in chronological hierarchy on either side of the golden image of Inti, sat the mummified bodies of the past Sapa Incas from Manco Capac, Sinchi Roca, Lloque Yupanqui, Mayta Capac, Capac Yupanqui, Inca Roca, Yahuar Huacac, and Viracocha Inca down to Pachacuti and Tupac Inca Yupanqui. Dressed in the finest woven cumbi tunics of vicuna wool, wearing the crimson royal fringe (mascapaicha) upon their foreheads, and seated upright upon low thrones of solid gold with their arms crossed over their chests and eyes crafted of hammered gold shells, the royal ancestors were attended daily by the Acllakuna (Chosen Women or Virgins of the Sun) and the high priesthood led by the Willaq Umu (Supreme Pontiff of the Sun). Daily banquets of maize beer (chicha), burnt offerings of llama tallow, and coca leaves were presented to them, while in the adjoining silver-lined Temple of the Moon (Mama Killa), the mummified bodies of the deceased royal consorts (the Coyas) were similarly enthroned as maternal protectors of the empire.
Beyond housing the celestial deities and royal mummies, Coricancha functioned as the geodesic and ritual hub of the Ceque (Zeq'e) system that organized the entire sacred landscape of Cusco. As documented in detail by Father Bernabe Cobo in 1653 and analyzed by modern ethnohistorians and archaeoastronomers such as Tom Zuidema and Brian Bauer, 41 (or 42) invisible sightlines called ceques radiated outward like the spokes of a wheel or the knotted cords of a giant quipu from the central courtyard of Coricancha toward the horizon, grouped into the four imperial quarters of Chinchaysuyu (northwest), Antisuyu (northeast), Collasuyu (southeast), and Contisuyu (southwest).
Distributed along those 41 radiating lines stood at least 328 sacred shrines and natural landmarks known as Huacas (Wak'as), including mountain passes, springs, carved stone outcrops, caves, royal palaces, and astronomical pillars marking the June and December solstices. Each ceque line and its constituent huacas were entrusted to a specific Panaka (the royal corporate kinship lineage formed by the descendants of a particular deceased Sapa Inca, who maintained that emperor's mummy and estates) or a non-royal Cusco ayllu. Thus, Coricancha united ancestral kinship, hydraulic irrigation management, astronomical timekeeping, and ritual sacrifice into a single coherent sacred geography.
A frequent misconception among visitors viewing the complex today is the belief that Spanish conquistadors demolished the entire Inca temple to the ground and built the Convent of Santo Domingo over a pile of rubble. In reality, when the friars of the Dominican Order (Order of Preachers) received title to the precinct from Juan Pizarro in 1534, they found the imperial ashlar masonry erected under Emperor Pachacuti so extraordinarily dense, stable, and finely dressed that demolishing it was neither practical nor desirable. Instead, colonial builders adopted a strategy of architectural superposition and incorporation: they utilized the great curved stone wall at the western prow as the structural foundation for the church apse and belvedere, and they preserved four complete Inca stone chambers (the Temples of the Moon, Venus and the Stars, Thunder and Lightning, and the Rainbow) intact around the ground-floor cloister walk, plastering over their interiors to serve as monastic chapter rooms and chapels. Consequently, when violent earthquakes in 1650 and 1950 toppled sections of the Spanish colonial brick-and-mortar vaults, the underlying Inca stone walls remained unshaken and were subsequently unplastered to reveal both traditions side by side.
IIFrom Twelfth-Century Inti Kancha and Pachacuti's Imperial Reconstruction to the Dominican Convent and the 1950 Earthquake Restoration
Spanning more than eight centuries of Andean history, the chronology of Coricancha and the Convent of Santo Domingo unfolds across three major epochs: the formative Cusco chiefdom era (twelfth to early fifteenth centuries), the imperial zenith of Tawantinsuyu under Pachacuti (1438 to 1533), and the colonial and modern era of the Dominican priory (1534 to the present).
- c. 12th Century CELegendary founder Manco Capac establishes the early sanctuary of Inti KanchaAccording to Inca dynastic tradition, the first ruler Manco Capac and his consort Mama Ocllo settle between the Huatanay and Tullumayo rivers, erecting a modest stone enclosure called Inti Kancha (Courtyard of the Sun).
- c. 1438 to 1471Ninth Sapa Inca Pachacuti rebuilds the sanctuary as the Golden Enclosure of QorikanchaFollowing victory over the Chanka confederacy in 1438, Emperor Pachacuti redesigns Cusco in the shape of a puma and reconstructs the temple with finest polished andesite and diorite masonry, gold wall sheathing, the Artificial Garden of Gold, and the 41 Ceque lines.
- 1533 to October 1534Stripping of the golden plates for Atahualpa's ransom and cession to the Dominican OrderIn 1533 Spanish forces strip roughly 700 pure gold wall plates and golden garden sculptures from Qorikancha to fulfill the ransom of Emperor Atahualpa at Cajamarca. In October 1534 conquistador Juan Pizarro donates the sacred site to the Dominican Order led by Fray Vicente de Valverde.
- Late 16th Century to 1633Construction and consecration of the first Dominican Church and Convent of Santo DomingoDominican friars erect a three-aisled Renaissance church and monastic cloisters directly over the Inca stone walls; the first colonial church is solemnly consecrated in 1633.
- March 31, 1650 to 1681The Great Cusco Earthquake of 1650 and seventeenth-century Baroque reconstructionA catastrophic earthquake on March 31, 1650 collapses the colonial church superstructure while leaving the Inca masonry unscathed; the Dominicans rebuild the church, carved Baroque bell tower, and two-story arcaded cloister by 1681.
- May 21, 1950 to the 1960sThe 1950 Cusco Earthquake exposes the Inca chambers and sparks dual conservationA magnitude 6.8 earthquake on May 21, 1950 severely damages the colonial arches and apse above the curved wall. Following intense debate between indigenist archaeologists and art historians, a UNESCO-backed restoration preserves both the exposed Inca stone sanctuaries and the rebuilt Baroque church.
- 1983 to the PresentInscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List and annual staging of Inti RaymiIn 1983 UNESCO inscribes the City of Cusco as a World Heritage Site (Ref. 273) with Qorikancha as a centerpiece; every June 24 on the winter solstice, the esplanade below the curved wall hosts the opening rites of the revived Inti Raymi festival.
The 1613 Cosmological Diagram of Pachacuti Yamqui Salcamayhua and the Golden Garden of the Sun. One of the most revealing primary documents for understanding the interior theology of pre-Hispanic Coricancha is the celebrated ink drawing included in the 1613 chronicle Relacion de antiguedades deste reyno del Piru by the indigenous Andean chronicler Juan de Santa Cruz Pachacuti Yamqui Salcamayhua (preserved in the National Library of Spain in Madrid). The diagram depicts the high altar wall inside the main Temple of the Sun as a complete cosmogram of Andean duality (Yanantin): at the summit shines the Southern Cross constellation (Chakana); below it stands a great oval plaque representing the Creator Viracocha; flanking the oval on the left (masculine side) blazes the Sun Inti, and on the right (feminine side) gleams the Moon Mama Killa; arranged beneath them are the Morning and Evening Star (Venus, Ch'aska), the Pleiades star cluster (Qullqa, governing the agricultural storehouses), Thunder and Lightning (Illapa), the Rainbow (K'uychi), Mother Earth (Pachamama), Mother Sea (Mama Qocha), the Milky Way river (Mayu), the first human couple, and the rooted ancestral tree (Mallki).
Complementing this cosmic wall was the renowned Solar Garden (Jardin del Sol) on the western terrace of Coricancha, described with astonishment by eyewitness Spanish chroniclers in 1533 and by Inca Garcilaso de la Vega. Taught by skilled Chimu and Inca goldsmiths brought to Cusco from across the empire, artisans filled the ceremonial terrace with an artificial garden forged entirely of solid gold and silver: life-size stalks of maize with golden leaves, silk, and cobs, life-size statues of twenty golden llamas with their lambs and human shepherds carrying golden slings, alongside golden butterflies, hummingbirds, lizards, and herbs planted among real ceremonial maize plots watered by gold-lined stone conduits.
IIIImperial Inca Mortarless Ashlar Masonry, the Four Celestial Chambers, and the Baroque Cloister of Santo Domingo
Architecturally, the Coricancha and Santo Domingo complex offers an unmatched study in structural engineering across two worlds. The lower imperial Inca complex was constructed using fine-grained dark grey andesite (quarried at Rumiqolqa some 35 kilometers southeast of Cusco) and dense greenish-black diorite. Shaped with harder hematite and quartzite hammerstones and polished with wet quartz sand until adjacent faces achieved near-molecular contact without mortar, the walls employ inward-sloping batter (inclining 3 to 5 degrees inward from base to top), sunken T-shaped bronze clamp sockets, and trapezoidal doorways and niches engineered to absorb high-altitude Andean seismic shocks.
Commanding the southwestern proscenium above Avenida El Sol and the lush garden esplanade, this famous curved retaining and sanctuary wall rises more than 6 meters in seamless coursed ashlar masonry. Following the natural contour of the river terrace in a smooth parabolic arc without a single sharp corner, its precision-cut blocks diminish subtly in height from bottom to top. In Inca times a broad band of sheet gold encircled the exterior wall, while today the open Baroque loggia of the Convent of Santo Domingo crowns its summit.
Lining the western side of the main convent courtyard stand two contiguous rectangular chambers of polished grey andesite featuring double-jambed trapezoidal doorways and deep trapezoidal wall niches. The Temple of the Moon was once lined internally with plates of beaten white silver and housed the mummified queens (Coyas) around a silver lunar effigy. Adjoining it, the Temple of Venus and the Stars preserves a carved monolithic stone window lintel grooved with slots and perforations used for hanging ritual textiles and observing celestial alignments.
Facing across the central patio on the eastern side of the cloister stand two further intact Inca chambers dedicated to Illapa (Lord of Thunder, Lightning, and Rain) and K'uychi (the sacred Rainbow). The Temple of the Rainbow once displayed a multi-colored metallic arch spanning the stone walls, while the Temple of Thunder features three symmetrical trapezoidal entrances and precision-drilled stone cord-holders along the jambs.
Displayed within the precinct are original andesite blocks revealing recessed T-shaped and I-shaped channels into which Inca metallurgists poured molten tin-bronze to cast internal cramps (grapas metalicas) locking critical wall corners against earthquakes. At the center of the colonial cloister rests a monolithic octagonal stone basin (Unancha) of pre-Hispanic origin, once used for pouring ceremonial chicha and sacred spring water during solar festivals.
Rebuilt between 1650 and 1681 following the great earthquake, the Dominican Church of Santo Domingo features a three-aisled basilican nave, a three-portal Renaissance-Baroque stone facade on the Plazoleta, and a robust single bell tower on the north corner richly carved with Baroque reliefs and columns. Surrounding the Inca sanctuary chambers is a two-story arcaded cloister hung with monumental seventeenth-century canvases of the Cusco School (Escuela Cuzquena) depicting the life of Saint Dominic de Guzman.
| Architectural Element | Period and Construction Technique | Structural Features and Sacred Function |
|---|---|---|
| Curved Solar Wall (Muro Curvo) | 15th century (Emperor Pachacuti); mortarless diorite and andesite ashlar | Over 6 m high parabolic curved wall on the southwest prow, originally sheathing the main Sanctuary of the Sun |
| Temple of the Moon and Temple of the Stars | 15th century (Imperial Inca); inward-battered walls and trapezoidal niches | Western courtyard chambers once plated in silver to honor Mama Killa (the Moon), Venus, and the mummified Inca queens |
| Temple of Thunder and Temple of the Rainbow | 15th century (Imperial Inca); precision-fitted grey andesite blocks | Eastern courtyard chambers with triple trapezoidal portals dedicated to Illapa (Lightning and Rain) and K'uychi (Rainbow) |
| Terraced Solar Garden (Jardin del Sol) | 15th century Inca agricultural-ritual terraces; modern underground museum below | Southwestern stepped lawn where life-size golden maize plants, golden llamas, and shepherds were displayed during Inca feasts |
| Church and Cloister of Santo Domingo | Founded 1534; rebuilt in Andean Baroque style from 1650 to 1681 | Three-aisled church, 1681 sculpted stone bell tower, two-story stone arcades, and 17th-century Cuzquena School paintings |
IVThe Lie of the Land and the Facing
It should be stated clearly that neither the Inca emperors and their Andean astronomer-priests nor the Spanish friars of the Dominican Order practiced East Asian geomancy (feng shui) in siting or designing Coricancha and the Convent of Santo Domingo. The Inca planners selected the site according to indigenous Andean sacred geography and archaeoastronomy: positioning Qorikancha at the anatomical tail and loins of the sacred Puma city plan between two converging rivers, and aligning its chambers and windows with the June and December solstices, zenith sun passages, and the heliacal rising of the Pleiades. The comparative observations below read the highland topography through the traditional landform framework of the Hall of Myriad Paths library.
Viewed within the macro-topography of the Cusco Valley (Valle del Cusco) at coordinates 13.5202 degrees south, 71.9754 degrees west at an altitude of 3,400 meters in the Peruvian Andes, the Coricancha plateau occupies the premier water-mouth convergence and central energetic node of the entire intermontane basin. Encircling the Cusco basin is a protective ring of sacred mountain peaks revered in Andean tradition as living mountain lords (Apus): rising immediately to the north and northwest is the limestone headland of Sacsayhuaman (forming the head of the Puma and a solid guardian backing hill); to the southeast rises the sacred peak of Apu Huanacauri (4,089 meters, the mythic origin shrine of the Inca founders) acting as a facing table mountain; and towering on the eastern horizon stands the glaciated 6,384-meter summit of Apu Ausangate as the distant ancestral mountain of the region.
In terms of watercourse geometry, the elevated spur of Coricancha projects like the prow of a ship between two mountain streams descending from the northern heights: along its southwestern flank flows the Saphi / Huatanay River (now channeled beneath Avenida El Sol), and along its northeastern flank flows the Tullumayo River (beneath Calle Tullumayo). Immediately south of the temple terrace, these two rivers unite at the historic point known in Quechua as Pumap Chupan (the Tail of the Puma), creating a classic twin-stream embrace that locks the vital energy of the upper valley before the combined Huatanay flows southeastward toward the Vilcanota-Urubamba River. Above this river confluence, the curved parabolic stone wall and stepped garden terraces of Coricancha open toward the west-southwest while the enclosed courtyard chambers gather the brilliant high-altitude sunlight from the east and north, creating an enduring equilibrium of mountain shelter and converging water.
VThe Winter Solstice Feast of Inti Raymi on June 24 and Dominican Liturgical Traditions in Cusco
Ceremonial life at the Coricancha and Santo Domingo complex reflects the dual heritage of Cusco: the Andean solar and agricultural calendar anchored on the Southern Hemisphere solstices and the Roman Catholic liturgical year on the Gregorian calendar celebrated by the Dominican friars.
| Time of Year | Calendar System | Festival or Liturgical Observance | Rites and Customs at Coricancha and Santo Domingo |
|---|---|---|---|
| June 24 (annually) | Gregorian / Southern Winter Solstice | Inti Raymi (Festival of the Sun and Andean New Year) | At dawn on June 24, the green esplanade directly below the curved stone wall of Coricancha serves as the inaugural stage of Cusco's famous Inti Raymi festival: hundreds of performers portraying the Sapa Inca, the Coya, priests, and emissaries of the Four Quarters chant Quechua invocations to the rising Sun God Inti and offer ceremonial chicha before processing to the Plaza de Armas and Sacsayhuaman. |
| May or June (Thursday after Trinity Sunday) | Catholic Liturgical Calendar | Cusco Corpus Christi (Corpus Christi Cuzqueno) | Cusco's grandest colonial religious festival, which historically replaced the Inca procession of the royal ancestral mummies (Mallki) from Coricancha with fifteen ornate silver litters of patron saints and Marian images converging at the Plaza de Armas. |
| August 8 | Gregorian | Solemnity of Saint Dominic de Guzman (Santo Domingo de Guzman) | Patronal feast of the Convent and Church of Santo Domingo, marked by solemn Dominican Mass, processions through the historic center, and the traditional fraternal visitation between the Dominican and Franciscan friars of Cusco. |
| October 7 and throughout October | Gregorian | Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary (Nuestra Senora del Rosario) | Celebrates the Marian title specially entrusted to the Order of Preachers with Rosary processions, floral offerings, and sacred music inside Santo Domingo Church. |
| November 1 and November 2 | Gregorian | All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day (Dia de losTodos los Santos y Difuntos) | Across Cusco, Catholic prayers for the departed blend with ancient Andean ancestral remembrance through family offerings of sculpted bread babies (t'anta wawa), bread horses, and favorite dishes honoring deceased relatives. |
The 1944 Revival of Inti Raymi at the Coricancha Esplanade. During the height of the Inca Empire, the winter solstice celebration of Inti Raymi in late June was the supreme state ceremony of the year, when the Sapa Inca, the living rulers of the provinces, and the mummified ancestors (Mallki) gathered at Coricancha to implore the Sun God Inti to return northward and warm the earth for the coming planting season. Suppressed in 1572 by Viceroy Francisco de Toledo, the ceremony was revived on June 24, 1944 by the Cusqueno writer, actor, and Quechua scholar Faustino Espinoza Navarro, who reconstructed the Quechua prayers and choreography from the 1609 chronicle of Inca Garcilaso de la Vega. Today, the opening invocation atop the walls and lawn of Coricancha on the morning of June 24 draws tens of thousands of spectators from across Peru and around the globe.
VILocation And How To Get There
- Address
- Plazoleta de Santo Domingo (corner of Avenida El Sol and Calle Santo Domingo), Historic Centre of Cusco, 08002 Cusco, Republic of Peru
- Getting there
- Coricancha and the Convent of Santo Domingo are located at the intersection of Avenida El Sol and Calle Santo Domingo (Plazoleta de Santo Domingo) in the heart of historic Cusco. From the main Plaza de Armas and Cusco Cathedral, the sanctuary is an easy 6-to-8-minute walk (roughly 500 meters) southeast along the famous Inca stone-walled lane of Calle Loreto (Intik'ijllu) and Calle Pampa del Castillo. From Alejandro Velasco Astete International Airport (CUZ) in Cusco, official taxis reach the Plazoleta de Santo Domingo in approximately 15 to 20 minutes (4.5 kilometers) via Avenida Velasco Astete and Avenida El Sol.
- Coordinates
- -13.5202, -71.9754
The Coricancha and Convent of Santo Domingo Museum Complex is open to visitors Monday through Saturday from morning until late afternoon and on Sunday afternoons (please note that admission to the main Coricancha and Santo Domingo Convent complex requires a dedicated entrance ticket purchased at the gate on Plazoleta de Santo Domingo, whereas the general Cusco Tourist Ticket or Boleto Turistico covers only the small underground Qorikancha Site Museum beneath the front lawn). Because Cusco sits at 3,400 meters above sea level, newly arrived travelers should walk slowly on stairs, stay well hydrated, and rest during their first day to acclimatize to the thin mountain air. Visitors are strictly prohibited from touching or leaning against the polished pre-Hispanic Inca stone walls, as natural oils from human skin permanently stain the ancient andesite and diorite surfaces; modest attire and quiet conduct are required inside the Church of Santo Domingo.
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?Quick Questions
What does the Quechua name Coricancha (Qorikancha) mean?
The name Qorikancha combines two Quechua words: Qori, meaning pure gold, and Kancha, meaning a walled courtyard or sacred enclosure. Known as the Golden Courtyard, the sanctuary received this name after the ninth Sapa Inca, Pachacuti, rebuilt it in the fifteenth century and lined its interior stone walls with more than 700 sheets of beaten solid gold in honor of the Sun God Inti.
What role did the royal mummies (Mallki) play inside Coricancha?
In the ancestor veneration tradition of the Inca Empire, the preserved bodies of deceased Sapa Inca emperors and Coya queens were revered as Mallki (literally living saplings or ancestral seeds). Seated upon golden thrones inside the main Temple of the Sun and the silver-lined Temple of the Moon at Coricancha, the royal mummies were clothed in fine textiles, served food and maize beer daily, and carried out in great processions during state festivals as living protectors of the empire.
What was the Ceque system that radiated from Coricancha?
Coricancha stood at the exact cosmological center of the Four Quarters of the Inca Empire (Tawantinsuyu). Radiating outward from the temple courtyard were 41 (or 42) invisible ritual sightlines called ceques that linked at least 328 sacred shrines, springs, carved rocks, and astronomical markers (huacas) across the Cusco valley, each maintained by a specific royal ancestral lineage (panaka).
Why did the Inca stone walls of Coricancha survive the devastating earthquakes of 1650 and 1950 while colonial walls collapsed?
Inca master masons shaped blocks of dense andesite and diorite to fit together with mortarless friction joints, concealed internal bronze T-clamps, trapezoidal openings, and an inward wall inclination (batter) of 3 to 5 degrees. During violent seismic shaking, the interlocking courses rock slightly to dissipate energy and settle back into their exact gravity-locked positions without cracking.
What happened to the golden treasures of Coricancha, and why was the Convent of Santo Domingo built on top of it?
In 1533, Spanish conquistadors stripped the golden wall plates and the solid-gold maize stalks and llamas from the Solar Garden of Coricancha to supply the ransom demanded for the captive Emperor Atahualpa in Cajamarca. In 1534, Juan Pizarro granted the precinct to the Dominican Order, whose builders preserved the indestructible Inca stone walls and chambers on the ground level while erecting the Church and Convent of Santo Domingo directly above them.
When is the best time of year to witness traditional Andean ceremonies at Coricancha?
The most vibrant annual celebration takes place on the morning of June 24 (marking the Southern Hemisphere winter solstice) during the festival of Inti Raymi. On the terraced esplanade directly below the curved stone wall of Coricancha, hundreds of participants in traditional Inca regalia stage the opening Quechua invocation to the Sun God before processing to the Plaza de Armas and Sacsayhuaman.