City Tour Cusco 1 Day

Cathedral: This impressive Colonial Church dates back to 1560 and is located in the main square of Cusco, it was declared a World Heritage Site in 1972, its construction was made with the rocks brought from the Fortress of Sacsayhuaman, this beautiful Church has a bell weighing 6 tons which is the largest bell in the city for this and more reasons the Cathedral of Cusco is the undisputed point of our visit to the imperial city of Cusco.

Qoricancha Temple: The Qoricancha, “golden enclosure”, or Temple of the Sun, perhaps did not become the largest or the most imposing of the buildings built by the Incas, but because it is the Temple of the Sun, it was the most revered and respected.

When the Spaniards arrived in Cusco, the conquistadores distributed the wealth and the lots of the entire city, this as booty of conquest; touching the Qoricancha to the brother of Francisco Pizarro, Captain Juan Pizarro, who dismantled the entire enclosure, later donated this plot to Fray Juan de Olías, Dominican Missionary who came from the Dominican Province of Santa Cruz de México, together with 12 friars who were in charge of building the convent of Santo Domingo, from where the peoples of the high provinces of Cusco went out to evangelize.

Fortaleza de Sacsayhuaman: Sacsayhuaman is one of the Inca constructions that most astonishes tourists who, according to new hypotheses, point out that it would have been a very important ceremonial center and not a fortress.

Its Quechua name means “hawk satisfied”. Therefore, it was the hawk that guarded the capital of the empire, because from the hill on which it was erected the whole city dominates. If, as is known, Cusco was designed with the shape of a recumbent puma, Sacsayhuamán would become its head, while the Qoricancha would correspond to the genitals of the feline.

It is said that the work was initiated by Pachacutec and continued by Tupac Yupanqui, although some chroniclers point out that it was Huayna Cápac who gave the final touch. The Inca Garcilaso de la Vega tells that Apu Huallpa Rimachi was the principal architect, and that Maricanhi, Acahuana Inca and Calla Cunchuy, took control of the works in succession.

Qenqo: Although the original name of this Inca shrine is not known, the Spanish conquistadors decided to name it with the Quechua word K`enko, which means “labyrinth”, perhaps by the labyrinthine underground galleries or by the small canals carved into the rocks in the form of zigzag.

The Spaniards classified this monument as an amphitheater, probably because it shows a semicircular construction. In fact, the purpose of this cyclopean construction is unknown, which may well be an altar, a court or the tomb of an Inca, perhaps Pachacutec. It is presumed that it was one of the most important sanctuaries that existed in the Incas.

PucaPucara: The name PucaPucara comes from Quechua voices puca, ‘red’, and pucara, ‘fortress or defended place’, meaning ‘red fortress’; the rocks with which it has been built turn reddish with the twilight.

This strength is an architectural construction located in the city of Cusco – Peru being thus one of the samples of the military architecture of the Inca Empire, which consists of superimposed terraces, aqueducts, watchtowers, interior squares, walls and stairways. On the western side you can find a kind of facade located in a free area, so it gives the appearance of being a small square.

Also, this fortress has three walls that originate a kind of levels, so we have:

In addition, a building of important size is on the opposite side, and what stands out from this is the location where it has been built, because from that point you can exercise control of everything that is around you.

Tambomachay: It is a beautiful archaeological center in the time of the Incas was dedicated to the worship of water and so that the head of the Inca Empire could rest. It consists of a series of aqueducts, canals and several waterfalls that run along the rocks. The surprising thing about this is that from a main waterfall, the Incas created two secondary waterfalls, which are exactly the same. That is, if one places two empty bottles, one in each waterfall, the two are filled at the same time.

Here there was also a kind of royal garden whose irrigation came from a complicated system of channels specially made for such a function. It also constituted a control zone for people coming from Antisuyo, because there was a control tower there.