Cusco Day 2 - Koricancha

After sacsayhuaman we went to Koricancha, Unfortunately we had to rush because we were in a hurry to get to our train!

Koricancha (already explained a bit in the post below) is in the heart of Cusco (we went here after going to Sacsayhuaman. Koricancha (from the Quechua words Quri Kancha meaning ‘Golden Courtyard’) was originally named Inti Kancha (’ Temple of the Sun’). This was the MOST important temple in the Inca Empire, dedicated primarily to Inti, the Sun God. You can see how fine the stonework is. The smallest stone in all of Incan architechture is here in Koricancha. Legend has it that an edge of the stone chipped when they were moving it so the Incas being perfectionists got another small stone and made it fit. The stones were sanded to fit together perfectly WITHOUT mortar , that “you can’t fit a blade of grass/small knife blade/piece of paper between them. Amazingly, this architechture has survived multiple earthquakes because of the fantastic Incan construction (for example the incans always used trapezoidal windows The Incan architecture was tilted inwards/build on an angle to be resistant to the many tremors). Unfotunately the Church of Santo Domingo was built on top of the Incan ruin by the Spaniards, more or less demolishing the Koricancha temple and using its foundations for the cathedral. In fact the incan stonework was covered/painted over on the interior side with plaster and mural paintings! BUT Major earthquakes have severely damaged the church while the Inca stone walls still stand due to their sophisticated stone masonry. See ya Conquistadors.

More to come from later on this day!