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Amanda Krause

AP Art History

Mrs. Quimby

February 22, 2019

“‘City of Cusco’ (#159) versus ‘City of Machu Picchu’ (#161)”

The City of Cusco, 1440 C.E., sits in the Central Highlands of Peru at an elevation of

11,200 feet. It was the capital of Tawantinsuyu and was called the “axis mundi” (center of

existence) as it reflected the Inca power. The city itself was divided into an upper and lower

section, to show the social divisions of the Inca society, and those two sections were then divided

into four more sections to reflect the four divisions of the empire. Due to the city’s layout, it

became a map where the Inca rulers could display their power and shape the empire. Girls and

young women were drawn to the capital of the empire to serve as “acllas” (“chosen women”) to

weave cloth, make corn beer for religious rituals, serve gods in shrines, and to be given up for

marriage. Young men were brought to the capital to be educated and raised in the Inca culture, so

that when they returned home, they would advocate for Inca traditions and power. The

Qorikancha (“Golden House”) sits in the center of the city and was dedicated to the worship of

the sun. The Inca worshiped many gods, but ultimately claimed descent from the sun, whom they

called “Inti”. The Qorikancha was also one of the many shrines that was turned into a Christian

holy space. The monastery and church of Santo Domingo were built around and on top of the

shrine, incorporating the new structure into the old one. It was renovated by the first emperor,

Pachacuti Inka Yupanqui. All of the doorways, windows, and wall niches were constructed in the

Inca trapezoid shape with double-jammed doorways. The stones were smooth rectangular blocks,

the walls were covered in gold sheets to symbolize the shrine’s dedication to Inti, and a garden of
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gold, silver, jewels, animals, and plants sat inside. The Saqsa Wayman structure looks down on

the city and has zigzagging walls made from huge stones. It is possible that it was never finished

or left incomplete and its function is also debated among scholars.

The City of Machu Picchu, 1450-1540 C.E., sits on a mountain saddle overlooking the

Urubamba River (modern-day Peru) and is about a three day walk from the city of Cusco. It was

built as a royal estate for Pachacuti Inka Yupanqui, the first Inca emperor. It was meant to

function as a place where he and his family could host feasts, perform religious ceremonies, and

to administer the affairs of the empire. He only resided there for part of the year, while the

yanaconas (retainers) and mitimaes (colonists) stayed there permanently. It includes housing for

elites and maintenance staff, religious shrines, terraces, and rock outcrops. The houses and

terraces were built by carefully fitting individual stones against each other. This was

accomplished by pecking at the stones with tools to uniquely shape them. They were common in

agriculture as they created walled steps down the sides of the mountain which made room for

crops to be planted. Other crops came from land at the bottom of the mountain peak. The main

buildings were constructed in the same manner as the terraces and were roofed with wood and

thatch. The windows, niches, and entryways of elite buildings were made in a unique trapezoid

shape, while the buildings for people or activities of lower class were made without shaping the

stones. The high-status buildings are in a cluster to the northeast with the emperor living in his

own separate compound in the southwest. Throughout the whole city, a system of sixteen stone

channels drained water from a waterfall and nearby spring, the first being outside the door of the

emperor’s compound. The Observatory is next to the elite buildings and is also called the

“Temple of the Sun”. It has two parts: an upper curved stone enclosure with windows, and a cave

below with more niches. The upper portion was used to calculate the June solstice and important
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constellations. The cave refers to an Inca myth about the underworld and was also used for other

astronomical observations. Located in the ritual area of the city is the Intihuatana (“hitching post

of the sun”). The Intihuatana is a carved boulder that represents the Incas relationship with the

earth. Its name symbolizes the idea that it was used to track the passage of the sun throughout the

year and when religious events would take place.

Both cities function to tell a story of and showcase the Inca culture. They both include

traditional Inca architectural elements in the buildings and sculptures as well as shrines and

figures to the gods and other religious deities they worship. Both cities also have a distinctive

social hierarchy difference, with the elite living in different buildings/sectors than those of the

lower class.

While both cities are very similar, the main difference, besides their location/landscape as

one is a flat landscape, while the other is a mountainous region, is their use of technology. The

city of Machu Picchu has more advanced tools and technology, such as their water system and

observatory, while the city of Cusco has more traditional methods and concepts. They do not

focus as much on technology as they focus on the roles of men and women more (women as

“acllas” and men as soldiers).