Cusco Tourist Information. As a contribution to make a proper tourism in Cusco, we offer a variety of information about the main attractions in Cusco and especially in the Sacred Valley of the Incas.
PISAQ
Introduction:
This great archaeological complex is located in the district of P’isaq, province of Calca, 33 km. to the east of the city of Cusco.
There is a strange coincidence between the distances that unite the cities of P’isaq, Cusco and Pikillacta. The distance between Cusco and P’isaq is 30 km, the same distance if measured from P’isaq to Pikillacta and from Cusco to Pikillacta is also 30 km. By joining these three cities with a straight line, a perfect equilateral triangle is achieved, which creates multiple speculations about the incredible architectural genius that the Incas had.
The beauty of its walls, built with large stone blocks polished with extraordinary symmetry and unparalleled handling of the stone leave the visitor perplexed.
At first, amazement is inevitable, then a sense of deep respect for the creators of these centuries-old buildings, silent witnesses of the greatness of an empire.
“On the banks of Willkamayu, the sacred river god that runs through carved stone channels dominating its fury, begin the strips of light and shadow of the famous terraces of P’isaq, the great city of the partridges. A city of legend that was built on a ridge of blue rock, almost above the air to overlook the most beautiful of the Cusco valleys,” says Peruvian journalist Alfonsina Barrionuevo, of this ancient Inca city.
Pisaq is formed by a group of enclosures that are possibly dwellings, aqueducts, roads, bridges, a cemetery, walls and large areas of enormous terraces.
When Antonio Raymondi, the Italian naturalist and geographer, visited P’isaq, he was astonished by the beauty of its walls and left testimony of it: “What is most admirable in P’isaq is the fineness of the carving and the perfect union of the stones, which without any mixture are well assembled, and the very fine straight, curved or broken lines are barely perceptible, as if to demonstrate the difficulty of the cut and the skill of the execution. From distance to distance there are gates, streets, stairways, towers, barracks and rooms; suspended in the highest of the peaks and where the imagination of the most daring builder would hardly dare today even to conceive a building”.
Name
It has not been possible to determine the translation of this Quechua word. For the Peruvian historian Victor Angles it is a “proper name that has no translation to another language, because it does not specifically qualify any object or fact”… “The Castilianized form Písac, derives from the Quechua voice P`isaq, this in turn may be an apocopated form of p`isaq, which is a hen, a bird that abounds in the place, similar to the partridge or lluthu”.
An unconfirmed version says that the Inca city of P’isaq has the shape of this bird, which was the tutelary deity of the tribe that inhabited this area in times before the Incas.
History
There is no precise data on the first settlement of the area, but there is no doubt that Tiahuanakus, Waris and other peoples culturally influenced the southeastern Andes. It is assumed that the whole area, later occupied by P’isaq, was already populated by the 10th and 11th centuries when the Inca heyday began, since it is fertile and productive land that had to be occupied by some of the original groups in the area.
It is very probable that P’isaq was a very important regional capital, thanks to the goodness of its lands and its strategic location. When it was incorporated into the Inca Empire, it assimilated the new architectural, agricultural and hydraulic techniques, so that they built a city with Inca characteristics that can be compared to the Imperial capital itself.
Charles Wiener, an important explorer of Peru, considers these constructions as an excellent sample of Inca architecture in its best and most refined style.
Urubamba
Considered as the Biblical Paradise by the great 18th century naturalist Antonio de León Pinelo, the city of Urubamba is today one of the most beautiful cities in the Sacred Valley of the Incas.
The capital of the Urubamba Province bears the same name and is located 57 km. northwest of Cusco, on the road to Chinchero. It is located at 2,875 meters above sea level, on a beautiful plain in the valley that separates the central mountain range of the Andes from the eastern one, on the right bank of the Urubamba River.
The beautiful province of Urubamba is located northwest of the province of Cusco, bordering the provinces of La Convención, Anta and Calca.
It is crossed by the Vilcanota River, which takes the name of Urubamba when it enters this area.
The Incas, as great connoisseurs of the land, chose this fertile valley to establish their main settlements, which is why the province of Urubamba is formed by the districts where the main architectural monuments of the Inca Empire are located: Urubamba, Ollantaytambo, Chinchero, Huayllabamba, Machupicchu, Maras and Yucay.
Ollantaytambo
Ollantaytambo, one of the most monumental architectural complexes of the Inca Empire, commonly called “Fortress”, due to its massive walls, was actually a Tambo or lodging city, strategically located to dominate the Sacred Valley of the Incas.
The architectural type used, as well as the quality of each stone, worked individually, make Ollantaytambo one of the most peculiar and surprising works of art made by the ancient Peruvians.
Ollantaytambo is located in the district of the same name, province of Urubamba, approximately 60 km. northwest of the city of Cusco and with an altitude of 2,792 meters above sea level.
It was built on the slope of the hill called Bandolista. Its name means “Tambo de Ollanta” (Ollanta’s Tambo). It was called tambo, or “tampu” in Quechua, to a lodging city with capacity to house thousands of people. During the Inca period there were many tambos in different areas of the valley and they did not have a special name, people simply called “tambo” to the one that corresponded to their area.
At the time of the conquest it continued to be called this way, only later was Ollantay added in memory of the anti (Antisuyo) leader who helped Huayna Capac to conquer the province of Chinchaysuyo.
The Cusquenian historian Victor Angles explains the origin of the name Ollantaytambo, referring that at the end of the XVIII century a drama of Inca argument was staged whose protagonist was General Ollanta, and the place where the actions took place -according to the literary work- was the tambo below Yucay, which since then began to be generalized as Ollantaytambo.
The Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, after praising the greatness and magnificence of the ancient fortifications of Tambo, tells that they were ordered to be built by the Inca Huiracocha, as well as the great and ancient buildings that exist in that place.
With singular language, the Peruvian Alfonsina Barrionuevo describes the great monument: “A colossus of stone, with massive feet that filter the waters of a river tamed by force of breakwaters of living rock, stands guard at the entrance of Ollantaytanpu, the legendary town of Ollanta, the Indian warrior who dared to conquer the heart of a princess”.
The Concentric Terraces of Moray
Moray is a formidable archaeological complex, formed by admirable systems of terraces, of enormous terraces that overlap concentrically, taking the form of a gigantic amphitheater. These beautiful terraces formed a great agricultural laboratory, in which the ancient Peruvians experimented and obtained improvements. Incredible advances were made in agriculture, which constituted their main work activity and the basis of their economic development.
The enormous circular terraces of Moray are located 53 km from Cusco on the road that leads to the Urubamba Valley.