Altitude sickness has been getting the better of me for the last 12 hours in Cuzco. I cannot believe I have to walk slowly even in and around town! After a few hours of exploration, resting on a bench in the middle of the Plaza de Arma, in
old town Cuzco, I find my energy regenerated. From where I sit, I can take in a
panoramic view of the entire plaza. The entire plaza is clearly from the
Spanish colonial time since they destroyed everything they could of Inca origin
and built their own temples and cathedrals in the process of forced Catholicism
on Inca people.
On a cloudy day The Cathedral and The Temple of Qusqo
Between the two cathedrals, the smaller buildings lining the
entire plaza on all four sides lean against one another and look down on the
plaza with their dainty second-floor decks.
Most of these buildings house restaurants and cafes and thus, each deck
accommodates 1-3 tables for two. I have an eye on one of these decks to have
lunch before I leave, which will materialize at Limo restaurant on my last day
with the help of dear Maria, the constant day time receptionist at the hotel that I will return to for my last day in Cuzco.
The Spanish feel of La Plaza de Arma
The first floors of these buildings on the other hand is a
continuum of wooden columns connected to one another by arches, that make it
look very European-old town, hence my sense of de ja vu… Since the Cathedral is
the colonial symbol of Cusco, I definitely would like to visit it. I get up and
climb the stairs to the cathedral. Peruvians clearly made very good use of
their religious structures, colonial, or Inca in origin. The entrance fee to
every structure is at European/American rates. I wonder if they have a
different fee scale for Peruvians as is the case in Turkey for citizens.
The cathedral was built on the foundation of the Inca temple Kiswarkancha, which was the palace of Inca Viracocha. I learn that, in Quechua, Inca is both the title of the emperor and the name of the empire. The cathedral was built in the shape of a Latin cross and the work force consisted of Inca descent Quechuas. Most of the stones used in the building of the cathedral came from Saqsaywaman, a holy and defensive Inca structure located on the hills above Cusco, which I will visit at the end of the week. The construction lasted 95 years and was completed in the second half of 1600s.
It is a beautiful structure with Gothic-Renaissance style. I will learn later on that the carved head of a jaguar/puma that is part of the cathedral doors is a trick the Incas played on the Spanish: Incorporating one of the three sacred animals in Inca belief into Spaniards’ catholic church! Just like, the serfs of the medieval era incorporating whatever they wanted into the hidden corners of the walls of Notre Dame. The cathedral is home to an enormous collection of the Christian art both in paintings, some 400 of those and sculpture. I always thought that a sculpture of a black Christ was another trick brown skinned Incas played against catholic Spanish. However, later on I will learn that the sculpture was made of wood not of bronze in the first place and had turned black only because of the candles lit at its feet for many decades not because the sculptors meant it to be black! Whatever the intention was, after the 1650 earthquake when this sculpture was part of the procession in town, it became known as El Negrito and locals adore him as such since then. He is quite different than the Christo La Blanca sculpture overlooking Cusco from the highest nearby hill, no matter what. As I approach the exit, I find another quiet spot away from the crowds and meditate for a bit before I get out to fresh air.
The Cathedral with all her grandeur!
After seeing these two religious sites, I don’t have much desire to see yet another one, although the Temple of Companieros of Jesus built by Jesuit priests is at right angle with the cathedral right across from where I stand rising majestically with its two domineering towers. The temple was also built on the remains of another Inca palace built for Inca Huayna Capac. Reportedly, this palace was the most beautiful of all Inca palaces, alas none of it is available to us except for certain artifacts perhaps, “thanks” to blood- and gold-thirsty Spaniards. The only preservation that occurred is the fact that Spanish kept the foundation of the palaces seeing how durable they were. They built their churches upon the Inca foundations and used some of the stones of what they destroyed nearby in the construction of their new buildings.
The foundation stones are so very huge in all the buildings I visit, I suspect, moving them was nearly impossible, hence, they decided to keep them to simply make their own job easier. Thanks to this utilitarianism, there are beautiful examples of impeccable Inca masonry in Qusqo scattered here and there. The oldest such surviving wall in Cusco is that of the Accllahuasi on Loretto Street around the corner from the Temple, which is in Quechua “The house of chosen maids”. The reference here is for the most beautiful virgins brought to Cusco to serve the religious and political elite of the Inca empire.
The house of virgins: Santa Catalina Monastery
Our Quarry Trail guide will tell us since being chosen for even human sacrifice let alone to serve the Inca and his elite was considered a matter of martyrdom and honor, there was no resistance to any of this. My mind just doesn’t buy it, simply for the fact that no society can be purely homogenous to that extent. I also would love to ask him whether any Inca emperor or preist ever had chosen their own sons and daughters as human sacrifice material ever... I bet, even there the poor and lower class boys and girls were sacrificed, but I know better than speaking my mind having experienced resistance to intellectual debate of this sort with our guides, already.
My silent thoughts follow this line, though: How can one believe that in any society, under any religious rule, every single member of the society would show the same dedication to the mandates of the dominating social norms? Had that been possible, would we have had all the conflicts inherent to all societies, which actually is the driving force behind progress? If today’s societies are as heterogeneous as they all are within national boundaries, why do we expect that the Inca society was purely homogenous?
Isn’t it reasonable to expect that, surely some of the chosen beauties would have resisted to be raped by the elite? Isn’t it reasonable to understand that some of the boy and girl virgins chosen for human sacrifice would have fought for their lives instead of feeling proud of being thrown off a cliff to calm down the anger or hunger of whatever deity the majority believed in at the time? But these questions will prove to be impossible to discuss with our guides in couple of days with their campaign on what an impeccable society Incas had built. It will almost feel like “If only Spaniards had not destroyed Inca culture, the world would have been a better place” and who knows perhaps it might have been…
Archbishop's Palace enjoys the timeless sturdiness of an Inca foundation
The most impressive wall is on the Hatunrumiyoc Street to the left of the cathedral. This is a lovely cobble-stone street lined with small restaurants and authentic souvenir shops. As I climb up the street, to the right is the Archbishop’s palace. The foundation of the palace rising up to 2 m from the street and the upper walls are totally at odds with one another. The Inca wall consisting of interlocked stones with no mortar between them is a piece of art indeed and invention of utmost engineering of a timeless time. Apparently this wall and its right angle adjacent fellow wall are also the foundation of another Inca Palace, that of the Inca Roca.
The infamous, commercialized 12-angle stone of Archbishop's Palace's foundation
One of the larger stones on this wall has 12 angles, in front of which many visitors have a photo taken! I will read later on that at Machu Picchu, there are stones with 30-40 angles, unfortunately, this information comes after I have left Machu Picchu. I can’t imagine, how intensely a stone with three dimensional 30-40 angles must be carved. Our tour guides will tell us that there was no slavery in Inca empire. All this work was voluntary for a few years. After everybody did their share with intense work, they would get land, a house and start a family and do whatever they wanted. When I read more about the empire, I indeed find out that Inca empire’s political-economy structure was a combination of socialism and monarchy.
Inca Museum has incredible collections from all excavated sites including artifacts of Inca lifestyle
The experts state Incas probably created an empire like many others. Its leaders were monarchs and had to deal with the distractions of the power struggles among the nobility and civil war, hence not everybody was happy and devoted. The masses were definitely put to work as slaves and laborers to build the dramatic works in urban settings and incredible agricultural structures in the rural.
Jaguar/puma carved onto a religious site door
It was most remarkable that despite the level of civilization, this empire had achieved so much without ever spending a dime since food was their coin; pure labor structured their economy and their agricultural surplus helped them with their expansive empire-building. One source off the internet verifies what our tour guides claim and lightens my heart: “What's remarkable is that evidence suggests those slaves and laborers were probably well fed.” I read on another site that when they chose certain children for human sacrifice, they fed them well, before the sacrifice they had a feast for them, and they even had them meet the Inca, the emperor! The purpose of this was to make sure the best and most well-fed to be sacrificed to control the earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and floods, which they believed were all controlled by the Gods. I want to give it to Incas that their rulers were a bit more humane than the Roman empire, Egyptians, and the like, but I don't know if their motive was being humane or something else…
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| Qusqo fromSaqsaywaman |
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