Almost five centuries after the fall
of the Inca empire, the titanic fortress of Sacsayhuaman still
stands above Cuzco, impervious to invading armies, earthquakes
and the elements.
Gazing up at the structure, you
can't help but wonder at the architectural skills of its
builders. The enormous blocks that make up its walls (some
weighing up to 300 tons and almost 30 feet tall) were sometimes
transported more than 50 miles across hostile terrain and
mountain passes. Somehow, in spite of the insurmountably hostile
conditions, the architects of Sacsayhuaman managed to construct
walls that are still so tight you can barely wedge a thin
knife-blade between the blocks. Inca Garcilaso de la Vega (The
Royal Commentaries of Peru 1609–1617) says that Huallpu Rimachi
Inca was the main architect. Construction of the fortress is
attributed to the great Pachacutec, the semi-legendary founder
of the Inca empire, and continued by Tupac Yupanqui, even though some
chroniclers state that it was Huayna Capac who gave it the final
touch.
Even by today's standards the
fortress is magnificent. Its enormous main ramparts and
battlements, more than 1200 feet long, were designed to force
any attacker to expose a flank and they tower far above the
heads of visitors, seemingly as indestructible as the mountains
from which they are carved.
The name is Quechua, and depending
on your sources is either derived from the term for "satisfied
falcon" or "marbled head". The first meaning is sometimes taken
to refer to the great flocks of carrion birds that fed on the
corpses left after the unsuccessful insurrection of Inca Manco
against the Spanish usurpers, in 1536. In the other reading, the
outline of Cuzco looks like a puma (mountain lion), and the hill
on which the fortress rests is the "marbled head" of the beast.
The archaeological site is located
above and immediately to the north of Cuzco and comprises two
overlooking hills, "Fortress Hill" and "Rodadero", located
either side of a wide plain. Both hills have been extensively
terraced and the foundations of many buildings are visible on
the surface. Sacsayhuaman was used as a quarry beginning in
1537, under the pretext of preventing the Indians from taking it
over and threatening the city. By 1561 a prohibition to remove
stones was issued, but the damage done was already considerable.
Many of Cuzcos' oldest buildings, including the cathedral, are
made with stones brought from Sacsayhuaman.
Three levels of zigzagging terrace
walls to the south of the plain, finely made with huge cut and
dressed stone boulders, present narrow access stairways which
make the passage from one level to the next difficult for large
groups of people. To the east of the highest point of "Fortress
Hill", on the southern side of the plain towards Cuzco, the
foundations of an unusual circular tower, Muyucmarca, and the
scattered remains of Paucarmarca and Sallacmarca, two tall
rectangular buildings (so-called towers) which early accounts
mention, can be seen. On the south side of the hill, the
foundations of a group of interconnecting, rooms, referred to
rather poetically as the "Religious Sector", were revealed by
excavations.
|