A labyrinth of forms; the pre-Hispanioc culture of Peru

UNESCO Courier, July, 1984 by Jesus F. Garcia Ruiz

The specific creative contribution of the Incas was manifested principally in architecture. Inspired, perhaps, by their ancestors from Tiahuanaco, the Inca architects seized space and filled it with massive constructions on a gigantic scale. Cyclopean blocks of stone were cut, adjusted and arranged with the utmost precision. At Sacsahuaman, for example, one of the stone blocks forming the wall is seven metres high. Solidity was ensured by embedding and adjusting the blocks in such a way that the projecting parts of some fitted into the depressions of others, and so perfect were the joints that it was impossible to insert even the blade of a knife.

Cuzco was the architectural centre par excellence of the Incas. The temple of Coricancha was the centre of the empire and its most important building. The complex was situated on a terrace surrounded by sanctuaries and dwellings. A stone aqueduct brought water from the mountain. All the facades of the palaces and temples were painted and decorated with gold plate. Standing on top of a hill a kilometre away from Cuzco, the fortress of Sacsahuaman is another amazing example of Inca architecture. The defensive walls are made of megaliths, one of which weighs about two hundred tons. These walls were constructed in saw-tooth form by more than 30,000 workers shortly before the Spanish conquest.

Machu Picchu is the best preserved of the Inca cities. It was discovered in 1911 by the American archaeologist Hiram Bingham. But in the midst of a mountain range, on top of a peak, its construction was very carefully planned. Defended by inaccessible slopes more than a thousand metres high, and by two lines of fortifications, Machu Picchu is at one and the same time a city, a fortress and a sacred enclosure. It is an overwhelming sight. Situated on high, pointing skywards, built stone upon stone, it exemplifies a fundamental aspect of the Inca genius--majesty of form and solidity of construction, in the service of the centralizing power of the State.