Coricancha Sun Temple, Cuzco, Peru

Coricancha ("The Golden Temple," from Quechua quri gold; kancha enclosure) was the most important temple in the Inca Empire. It is located in Cusco, Peru, which was the capital of the empire.

The High Priest resided in the temple and offered up the ordinary sacrifices, accompanied by religious rites, with the help of other priests.

Most of the temple was destroyed after the 16th-century war with the Spanish conquistadors, as settlers also took it apart to build their own churches and residences. Much of its stonework was used as the foundation for the seventeenth-century Santo Domingo Convent.

Santo Domingo Convent

Santo Domingo Convent seen from the northwest
Santo Domingo Convent was built after the 1650 earthquake destroyed the first Dominican convent.

Less baroque and ornate than many of Cuzco’s churches, it is notable for its charming paintings of archangels depicted as Andean children in jeans and T-shirts.

Santo Domingo Convent seen from the west

Entering the Santo Domingo Convent

Santo Domingo Convent / Coricancha Plan
Plan Legend:

Sun Temple
Thunder chamber
Rainbow chamber
Courtyard
Ahuacpinta street
Alcove
Largest building
Curved wall
Underground building
Chamber B
Hallway
Double-jamb
Venus chamber
Corner wall
Outside wall
Sacred Garden
Entrance
Divirgent Fountain

The church and monastery of Santo Domingo and the Inca walls of Coricancha, as drawn by Graziano Gasparini and Luise Margolies in 1974. The plan showns the walls exposed or built in the Inca style by recent restorers.

Panorama of the monastery cloister / Inca courtyard, seen from the northwest.
The courtyard of the Coricancha temple (Plan No. 4) was filled with golden statues.

Monastery cloister and church dome, seen from the southeast.
The original Dominican church was built directly ontop of the Sun temple (Plan No. 1).

Foundations were found showing the building of the Sun temple was here.
The walls of the Sun temple were plated with gold to catch the rising sun.

Panorama of the monastery cloister/Inca courtyard, seen from the southeast.
In this central courtyard there were vicuñas, birds, trees, plants such as corn, etc., all in life size made of gold and silver.

Coricancha

A reconstruction of Coricancha
This reconstruction by Graziano Gasparini and Luise Margolies shows its hight thatched roofs and the simplicity of its chambers.

The most important temple in the precinct was the Temple of the Sun, dedicated to the sun god Inti. The interior and exterior walls of the temple, situated in the northern corner of the complex, were covered in gold - considered the sweat of the sun - which was beaten into sheet plates. There were, reportedly, 700 of these half-metre square sheets, each weighing 2 kg.
Five other temples or wasi were placed around the main square courtyard of Coricancha. In order of hierarchy, one temple was dedicated to the creator god Wiracocha (more or less equal to Inti), one to Quilla the goddess of the moon, one to Venus or Chaska-Qoylor, one to the god of thunder Illapa, and finally one for Cuichu the rainbow god.
Each wasi contained a cult statue of that particular god and precious art and religious objects connected to them.

Thunder chamber (left), Alcove (center) and Rainbow chamber (right).
In this photo we can see the Thunder chamber (Plan No. 2), the Alcove (Plan No. 6) and the Rainbow chamber (Plan No. 3).

Entering the Thunder chamber
The Thunder chamber (Plan No. 2) was dedicated to thunder and lightning. The walls were covered in gold.

Inside the Thunder chamber

Panorama of the interior of the Thunder chamber

Window from the Thunder chamber to the Alcove
This window opens from the Thunder chamber (Plan No. 2) to the Alcove (Plan No. 6).

The Rainbow chamber (Plan No. 3) is visible in the background.

Alcove (left) and Rainbow chamber (right)
In this photo we can see the Alcove (Plan No. 6) and the Rainbow chamber (Plan No. 3).

Alcove
The stone in the center of the Alcove (Plan No. 6) is fake, was placed by the Dominicans and is of a transitional style, and upside down.

Rainbow chamber
The Rainbow chamber (Plan No. 3) was dedicated to the rainbow.

The wall on the street side is almost completely vertical, the other walls have the typical Inca-stlye angle.
Windows line up, facing north across the buildings.

Interior of the Rainbow chamber
The Rainbow chamber (Plan No. 3) was decorated with a colored arch.

Grouping of stones collected in various locations

Venus chamber
On the other side of the courtyard is the Venus chamber (Plan No. 13) and Chamber B (Plan No. 10).

Entrance to the Venus chamber

Inca ceremonial niche
This so called “ceremonial niche” belongs to the Inca period and was possibly used to preserve an important venerated image at the temple or some objects of religious value. The holes in its edges could have served to tie up a curtain of fine textile or a door that covered the niche and its contents or to support the adornment with which this sacred place was decorated.

Carved stones, similar to the ones of this niche, were found in archaeological excavations at Coricancha. These stones probably formed part of another niche, identical to this one, in the wall of the semi-destroyed building located on the right-hand side, on the opposite extreme of the double jamb door. It is presumed that both buildings were identical by their architecture and dimension.
The colonial author Pedro Cieza de Leon who visited Coricancha around 1550, wrote in his chronicle: "There were two seats in that wall, on which the sun rays fell when the sun was rising, and their stones were subtly perforated, and in the holes many precious stones and emeralds were installed. On these seats the kings sat, and if someone else did he was sentenced to death". Cieza interpreted the niche as the “Incas throne”, but it is unclear whether his information is reliable. He saw Coricancha more than fifteen years after the conquest of Cusco, when the Inca temple was already turned into the Dominican Priory and its treasures had been taken away by the conquerors. It is possible that his words reproduce legends and rumors that circulated among the Spaniards of Cusco.
In the Colonial times the whole left hand side of the niche was dismantled to give place to an arch. The arch framed the new entrance to the building, which at that moment was used as the Chapter House of the Priory.
After the big earthquake of 1950, during the archaeological excavations at Coricancha supervised by the architect Oscar Ladron de Guevara, the stones corresponding to the dismantled niche were discovered. The Colonial arch was destroyed and the lacking part of the original niche and of the adjacent wall was reintegrated. Some element were newly carved in the process of the reconstruction, in order to fill in the voids.

Panorama of the interior of the Venus chamber
The Venus chamber (Plan No. 13) was dedicated to the planet Venus, the Pleiades and other constellations.

To match Chamber B (Plan No. 10), it was probably also painted gray with a black band.
It was said that the graves of Tupac Amaru II, Shayari Tupac and Juan Pizarro were here.
Niches held idols from around the country. When conquering a new territory, the local idols were transported to Cusco and displayed in these niches. The idols were given "due respect." But it also acted as a hostage to ensure good behavior from the territories.
There are 25 niches encircling the room. The roof was decorated with stars, the walls were silver plated.

Double-jamb doorway
Early imperial style.

This double-jamb doorway (Plan No. 12) gives access to a corridor that separates the Venus chamber (Plan No. 13) from the Chamber B (Plan No. 10).

Corridor separating the Venus chamber from the Chamber B
We can appreciate the perfection of the finishing of the stones.

Curved wall
The outer wall (Plan No. 8) of the temple is made up of blocks of pink and grey granite stone, the interior surface of which showing signs of a vitrified layer that allowed for the reflection of light at night.

Curved wall niche
Maybe this held Subaraura, leader of the pururauca stones that rose to fight with Pachacuti.

Scale model of Coricancha

Southwest view
The building on the left of the photo is the Venus chamber (Plan No. 13).

Southeast view
The building on the right of the photo is the Rainbow chamber (Plan No. 3) and the Thunder chamber (Plan No. 2).

Northeast view
The building on the right of the photo is the Sun Temple (Plan No. 1).

Northwest view
The building on the left of the photo is the Sun Temple (Plan No. 1).

Curved wall
The angle of the Curved wall (Plan No. 8) is at the northwest corner of Coricancha.

It is at the angle of the curved wall that the curved wall niche is located.

Southwest view
At the bottom of the photo we can see the Garden (Plan No. 16).

Inca Cosmology

Main Altar inside the Coricancha
The original of this line drawing forms part of the chronicle “Relation of the Antiquities of this Kingdom of Piru” written around 1613 by Joan de Santa Cruz Pachacuti Yamqui Salcamaygua, native author, descendant of the governors of the provinces of Canas and Canchis.

The image illustrates the cults of the temple of Coricancha of the Inca times. It must be taken into account that the drawing was made many years after these cults were expelled from Coricancha, thus the author couldn't know them from his own experience. His information probably was based on the oral tradition of his society.
The image is usually interpreted as a representation of the interior wall, as the main altar or as the facade of the Inca temple with the figures attached to its surface, but the text of the chronicle does not give precise references about it.
Some researchers see in Pachacuti's drawing a scheme of the andean cosmology (Roberto Lehmann-Nitsche, Gary Urton), others consider that the image was inspired by the structure of catholic altars (Ana Sanchez Pierre Duviols). Probably it was a result of both influences: the indigenous and the european.
The drawing includes comments written by the side of each element in three languages: spanish, quechua and aymara.

Main Altar Plan
Plan Legend:

Orcorara, which means three stars all the same
Uiracochan Pachayachachi or Image of the Maker of Heaven and Earth
Inti, Sun
Qilla, Moon
Chazca Coyllor Achachi Ururi, Morning Star
Choqe Chinchay Apachi Orori, Evening Star
Sucsu (or Huchu), Summer
Pocoy, Winter, Fog Cloud
Chuqe Ylla or Yllapa, Lightning
Catachillay
Chacana in General
Saramenca
Coramanca
Cuychi or Turo Manya, Rainbow
Mama Pacha or Camac Pacha, World or Earth
Chuqe Chinchay, Golden Jaguar, Hail
Mama Cocha, Sea
Pucyo, Spring
Pilco Mayao, River
Ymaymana Ñaoraycunap Ñauin, Eyes (Of All Things)
Man
Woman
Mallqui, Tree
Collcampata, Warehouses

Inca astronomy

Inca constellations in the Milky Way
Similarities are found in the semicircular temples found in the Temple of the Sun in Cusco, the Torreon in Machu Picchu, and the Temple of the Sun in Písac.

In particular, all three exhibit a "parabolic enclosure wall" of the finest stonework, as Bingham describes it.
These structures were also used for similar purposes, including the observation of solstices and Inca constellations.

The Celestial River
Within the Milky Way, which the Inca called mayu or Celestial River, the Inca distinguished dark area or clouds, which they called yana phuyu. These were considered silhouettes or shadows of animals drinking from the river water.

Amongst the animals named by the Inca, was a llama extended from Scorpius to Alpha Centauri and Beta Centauri, in which those two stars formed the llama's eyes, or llamaq ñawin.
A baby llama, llama-cría, was inverted underneath.
To the left of the llamas is a red-eyed fox, atuq, which lies between Sagittarius and the tail of Scorpius.
The tail of Scorpius is known as a storehouse, or qullqa.
A partridge, yutu, was just below the Southern Cross, and a toad, hamp'atu, to the lower right.
A serpent, machaguay, extends off to the right.

The organizing pivot of heaven
During the Inti Raymi, the Sapa Inca and curacas would proceed from the Haucaypata, where they greeted the rising June solstice sun, to the inner court of the Coricancha.

On a bench in the "sun room", the Sapa Inca sat with the mummies of his ancestors. This and other rooms were oriented northeast–southwest, shingled in gold plate, and embedded with emeralds and turquoise.
Focusing the sun's rays with a concave mirror, the Sapa Inca would light a fire for the burnt sacrifice of llamas. Children were also sacrificed in certain circumstances; they were brought to Cusco following a ceque and huaca route of tribute.
The Coricancha is located at the confluence of two rivers. Here, according to Inca myth, is where Manco Cápac decided to build the Coricancha, the foundation of Cusco, and the eventual Inca Empire. According to Ed Krupp, "The Inca built the Coricancha at the confluence because that place represented terrestrially the organizing pivot of heaven."

Sacred Garden