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The Puma City of Cusco

The foundation of Qosqo, the andean name for Cusco, is not a casual fact of space nor time. Its construction corresponds to the cosmovision of the man of the Andes, adequately placed in the verticality of his physical reality , considered his city as the center or navel of the world. Cusco, with Pachcuteq, acquires its urbanistic, religious, administrative and military characteristics. In it, the Royal Houses will be built as well as the popular areas; sanctuaries for the Apus (Lord Mountains) and shrines for the protecting spirits and finally a city corresponding to its natural surroundings and place of residence of the governors. Later, with the spanish occupation, the city acquires a new personality that lasts until today.

Because of its monumental architecture, Cusco has been declared Patrimony of Humanity by UNESCO and is also Archaeological Capital of America and Historical Capital of Peru.

MAIN SQUARE AND HISTORICAL CENTER or Haukaypata or Victory Plaza is the sacred place where the main palace-temples of the Incas were and on top of which the Cathedral was built over the palace- temple of Wiracocha Inca, as well as Compañia de Jesus church over the palace-temple of Huayna Capac Inca’s palace-temple, and the church of Santa Catalina over the Aqlla Wasi, House for the pristesses of the sun and the moon, and La Merced church, and the University Building where fighters for the independence were tortured and killed. Monumantal walls made of enormous boulders side the streets and open to minor plazas like Kusipata where the city hall is or to the Nazarenas Plaza with colonial convents and houses that preserve the Inca and Colonial architecture.

QORIKANCHA COMPLEX is the greatest religious center dedicated to the God Sun, its name comes from the rich golden cover of its walls and the deities there worshipped: the Qorikancha is the most important religious representation in the Urin Qosqo.

ON THIS SANCTUARY The Convent of the Dominican order was built in a renaissance style and ot contains a great collection of the Cusco School of painting.

THE CATHEDRAL is one of the greatest colonial monuments built on the platform and pillars that held the Temple-Palace of Wiraqocha Inca. It contains the largest Main Altar in the american continent and it is all covered in silver. Its chorus is a symphony carved in cedar wood and beautiful chapel surround the cathedral of which the one dedicated to the Lord of the Earthquakes or Apu Teqse Wiraqocha, God Protector of the Andes whose image is venerated by catholics and andeans. Its contains great examples of the Cusco School of painting in gigantic format.

HATUN RUMIYOQ is one of the best examples of the streets of Cusco by the Temple-Palace of Inca Roca where we can appreciate the stonework of the Incas, one of which stands out because of its twelve angles. Over this construction, the Archbishops Palace is built.

SAN BLAS QUARTER OR TOQOKACHI is the neighborhood of the artisans of the Incas where they worshipped the God fo Thunder and Lightning or Apu Illapa in whose honor a Waka stood in the middle of its Plaza. The steep and narrow streets harmonize the Inca stones with the rain canals and those street conserve the names of the different occupations of the smiths of those times until now. Its handicrafts are renoun around the world.

THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL PARK OF SAQSAYWAMAN is a complex of towers, shrines, trails, passage ways, aqueducts of the Incas and form part of an even larger complex being excavated now. Its is the greatest architectonic representation of Hanan Qosqo and its name corresponds to the workshop of Apu Waman, one of the Gods Protectors of the Andean culture. The enormous size of the boulders used to build it makes one of the marvels of the world and shows the extraordinary construction capacity of the Inca that have not been surpassed until today.

Q’ENQO is a complex of labyrinths and shrines with an amphitheater as its ceremonial center which constitutes together with the temple of the moon, to the Pachamama (Mother Earth), to the Puma, to the Amaru or Sacred Serpent, to the Jaguar preserves the worship adequate to the idiosyncrasy of the people of the time.

TAMBOMACHAY AND PUKAPUKARA, the first is depicted as a resting center and of water cult and where the baths of the Inca are found, with a series of aqueducts, canals, cascades that flow is beautiful harmony. Pukapukara or Red Fort is clearly for military defense because of its solid construction, terraces, staircases and water supply.

MYSTICAL OFFERINGS are also known as presents (despachos) for Pacha Mama or Mother Earth and take place as religious rituals any day in the Andes today like yesterday as a thanksgiving ceremony to Mother Nature for its fruit and harvests received for the wellbeing and progress of us all as well as to prevent illnesses and disaster that could desolate the land.

SAN PEDRO. THE TYPICAL MARKET that brings us near to the everyday cusquenian to taste their daily meals, exquisite dishes and aromas of the andes with organic and natural food allows us to taste the famous chocolate, the aromatic coffee of Cusco, the juices and extract of exotic fruits like the chirimoya and the lucuma. Also delicious pork, trout and other specialities of the cusquenian cusine.

ARTISANS FAIR that exist in several popular districts of Cusco where the handicrafts are available in the diversity of ceramics, silver, textiles and other artistic beauties that are proudly presented.

ALFA TOURS offers different possibilities for a visit

Alfa Tours | Information | Festivities | The Great Machupicchu Sanctuary | The Maize Corn route of the Sacred Valley of the Incas | The Puma City of Cusco | The Manco Capaq route, south of Cusco