Backpacking South America

Cuzco, last Inca empire and now gringo capital of Peru, was our jumping pad to visit Machu Picchu. We spent a few days here before and after our trip to Machu Picchu. Aside from some great (gringo) restaurants, bars and cafes, Cuzco is rich with history.

As the capital of Incan culture, Cuzco had numerous temples. When the Spanish defeated the Incas, they destroyed the temples and important sites of Cuzco and built their churches over the top of them in their effort to convert the people to Catholicism. So we decided to take one day and pay the hefty gringo entrance fees and explore some of the Catholic Churches and Incan Temples of Cuzco.

The most important religious site for the Incas was Qorikancha, the Temple of the Sun. This temple was re-discovered after the 1950 earthquake, when the Church that was built over top of it was partially destroyed and revealed significant remains of the Incan Temple.

Qorikancha has some of the best examples of Incan architecture. The construction was built to glorify the gods and to accurately identify the equinox and solstices. Interestingly, the temple was so well built that it has not seen any destruction from the many severe earthquakes that have destroyed many of the Spanish’s finest buildings.

In many of the Cuzco cathedrals, more than elsewhere in Peru, there was significant integration between the Incan and Spanish cultures in the art and construction.

The most interesting church we visited was the main Cathedral. It is comprised of three churches in one, all built at different times on the remains of the Palace of the Incan King. There were several interesting elements in this church. First, there were mirrors in this church. Catholic churches usually do not have mirrors in the church because they are sign of vanity, however, within the Incan culture when looking into a mirror one is able to see their soul. Therefore, the church used these mirrors as a conversion tool. And they still remain today.

Impressively, there are hundreds of beautiful pieces of Cusqueña artwork, completed by indigenous artists. Some were replicas of European paintings, while others were originals and incorporated elements of Incan culture, such as the llamas, maize (corn), or the Incan religious symbols of the condor, puma and snake. In Incan culture, the condor represents upper world, the puma represents the middle world and the snake represents the underworld. Sometimes the integration was for the localization of the story, other times it was a subversive act.

One painting of the last supper done by a Cusqueñan artist painted Pizarro as Judas – a good stab at the Spanish conquerors.

Another example of the incorporation of the two cultures were the choir stalls. The choir stalls were made of cedar wood and intricately carved of bishops and apostles. And delicately carved into the armrest of the chairs were bare-breasted pregnant maidens, which could indeed be deemed as vulgar in the Catholic Church, but were sacred to the Incan culture representing fertility, and therefore were allowed to remain.

Unfortunately, we were not able to take photographs inside the churches, so all we have to share with you are our best descriptions of these places.