Inca Ruins
Posted by Cassie, September 4th, 2010
It’s been amazing wandering around the Inca ruins in Cusco and the Sacred Valley. They built these amazing buildings using only bronze age tools. They fit enormous stone blocks together without mortar. The precision of the stonework in the temples and palaces is incredible. You cannot fit a knife blade in between the stones. It is unfortunate that the Spaniards dismantled so many of the Incan temples and built churches on top of them. In Cusco, the Dominicans built a church on top of the Sun Temple and kept some of the old Inca walls as part of the church structure. However, the walls were covered with stucco and paintings, and no one knew that Inca walls were still there. Then, the 1950 earthquake destroyed most of the new church construction, but the old Inca walls were revealed and undamaged by the earthquake. Now, the old Inca walls remain uncovered for tourists like us to admire. 🙂
Enormous limestone blocks at Sacsayhuaman fortress/temple outside Cusco
The Inca walls are amazing! They fit huge stones together without mortar. The fit between the stones is so tight that you can't put a penny between the stones.
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