Qorikancha in Cusco, the most important place of the Incan Empire.

Post - Spanish Qorikancha.

The ancient Qorikancha in the Pre-Colombian times was the main temple of Cusco, the capital city of Incas. The Inca Empire (1438-1532) was the largest state of New World before the European conquest. It occupied the major part of modern Perú, Bolivia, Ecuador, north of Chile and northeast of Argentina. According to historians’ calculations, its population exceeded 9 million inhabitants.

Outside view of the Qorikancha
Surprised by a rainbow -
inspiration of the flag of Inca

Tawantinsuyu was the word used by the Incas to name their domains. In Quechua (the official language of the Inca Empire) it means “the four parts of the World”. The Inca Empire was divided into four provinces (suyus): Antisuyu (to the East from Cusco), Kuntisuyu ( to the West from Cusco),  Chinchasuyu ( to the North from Cusco) and Qollasuyu (to the South from Cusco).

The entrance

Incas remain in history as talented warriors, politicians and architects. Their culture is outstanding for its sophisticated technologies in ceramics, metallurgy, textiles, and especially in architecture and engineering. Many of their creations, their palaces and fortresses, roads and bridges, endure to our days.

Qorikancha of the Incas: Its’ history

Tawantinsuyu- the Incan Empire

Three doors represent the past, the present and the future.

According to the 16^th century author Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa, the founders of the Inca ruling dynasty, Manco Capac and his family, conquered the valley of Cusco and established here the first four quarters, or neighbourhoods of the town: Quinti Cancha, Chumbi Cancha, Sairi Cancha and Yarambuy Cancha, between the rivers Saphi and Tullumayu. Within this first settlement, in the place whee Qoricancha is now standing, the main temple, called the “House of Sun”, or Inticancha, was constructed. (Inti: sun, cancha: enclosure)

Inca Pachakuti, the great reformer of the Inca Empire, rebuilt the city of Cusco in the second half of the 15^th century and ordered new constructions to be made for the House of Sun. Pachakuti provided the sanctuary with the fabulous treasures, the reason why it changed its name to Qorikancha, which means in Quechua “gold enclosure”. (According to the Spanish languange spelling, it is written as Coricancha; according to the rules of the modern Quechua language it is spelled “Qorikancha”.)

The 16^th century Spanish author Pedro de Cieza de Leon describes the main Inca temple: “This temple had more than four hundred steps in circumference, all surrounded by a big wall, the whole building composed of excellent masonry, of fine stonework very well adjusted, with some of the stones very big and of superb quality; (between them) there was no mortar nor line, but kind of a bitumen which they commonly use in their constructions, and the stones are so well worked that no mortar or joint can be seen… There were many doorways, and the doors finely worked; along the wall ran a gold band spans wide and four fingers high. The doors and the doorways were plated with this metal…”

View from outside on the temple and Santo Domingo

Qorikancha: deities and their cults

Colonial chronicle writers disagree in numbers and description of the Inca deities venerated in Qorikancha and the location of their respective precincts.

The celebrated author of mixed Indian-Spanish origin Garcilaso de la Vega narrates in his Royal Comments that the most important building was a temple dedicated to the Sun god (Inti), located in the western part of the courtyard, where nowadays the Temple of Saint Dominic is standing. On the door sides of the courtyard were the temple dedicated to the Moon (Killa), the Sun’s wife; the temple of the planet Venus (Ch’aska) and the stars (Qoyllur); that of the thunder and lightning (Illapa); that of the rainbow (K’uychi) and the chamber of the high priest (Willaq Umu).

Outside the Santo Domingo
Ancient Qorikancha

Father Barnabo Cobo in his History of the New World says that the most important image of the Qorikancha was called P’unchau: “It was a sculptured image called Punachau, which means ‘day’, all made of the finest gold, with exquisite richness of jewelry, his figure with a human face, surrounded with rays, like we use to paint (the sun); it was placed in such a way that it faced the east, and when the sun came out, its light fell on the image; and as it was a very fine metal plate, the sun rays reverberated and were reflected with such a shining that it looked like sun itself. Indians said that together with its light, the sun communicated its virtue to the image”.

The Indian author Juan de Santa Cruz Pachacuti affirms that the main deity venerated at Qorikancha was the creator go Viraqocha, who was represented by the oval gold plate.

Besides all these deities, mummies of the Inca emperors and their wives were venerated at Qorikancha, as ancestors protectors of the royal dynasty and the whole            

                                                                       Empire.

A walls with windows in one of the rooms in the temple.