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Qorikancha Review
Read our Cusco and Machu Picchu sights reviews. Or post your own.
Qorikancha 
- Address: Pampa del Castillo at Plazoleta Santo Domingo, Cusco
- Phone: No phone
- Category: Archaeological Sites
- Location: Cusco
Fodor's Review:
The Temple of the Sun was built during the reign of the Inca Pachacutec to honor Tawantinsuyos' most important divinity and served as astronomical observatory and repository of the realm's gold treasure. (The temple's name translates as "Court of Gold.")
If Cusco was constructed to represent a puma, then Qorikancha was positioned as the animal's loins, the center from which all creation emanated. Some 4,000 priests and attendants are thought to have lived within its confines. Walls and altars were plated with gold, and in the center of the complex sat a giant gold disc, positioned to reflect the sun and bathe the temple in light. At the summer solstice, sunlight reflected into a niche in the wall where only the Inca were permitted to sit. Terraces that face it were once filled with life-size gold and silver statues of plants and animals. Much of the wealth was removed to pay ransom for the captive Inca ruler Atahualpa at the time of the Spanish conquest, blood money that was paid in vain as Atahualpa was later murdered. Eventually, Francisco Pizarro awarded the site to his brother Juan. Upon Juan's death, the structure passed to the Dominicans, who began to construct the church of Santo Domingo, using stones from the temple and creating perhaps Cusco's most jarring imperial-colonial architectural juxtaposition.
An ingenious restoration to recover both buildings after the 1953 earthquake lets you see how the church was built on and around the walls and chambers of the temple. In the Inca parts of the structure left exposed, estimated to be about 40% of the original temple, you can admire the mortarless masonry, earthquake-proof trapezoidal doorways, curved retaining wall, and exquisite carvings that exemplify the artistic and engineering skills of the Inca. Bilingual guides lead tours every day except Sunday; the service is included in your admission price. A small museum just down the hill with an entrance on Avenida El Sol contains a few artifacts from the site but doesn't warrant a huge amount of your time.
- Cost: Ruins and church, S/6; museum, Boleto Turístico
- Open: Ruins and church, Mon.-Sat. 8:30-5:30, Sun. 2-5; museum, Mon.-Sat. 9-5:30, Sun. 9-1
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