Inside Qorikancha, the Temple of the Sun in Cusco

Qorikancha was the most important temple in the Inca Empire. The name means golden enclosure in Quechua- an apt choice, as when the Spanish conquistadores arrived in Peru, Qorikancha’s exterior walls were covered with a band of gold. The temple was dedicated to the sun, Inti, the supreme deity. Originally, one could only enter the temple barefoot, carrying a load on their back to show humility, and after having fasted. Today, you only need to purchase your admission in order to explore it.

Before the arrival of the Spanish, the temple housed several venerated mummy bundles of deceased Inca rulers, adorned with precious masks and scepters. There were oracles, golden statues, and gold and silver vases for the consecrated women, Mama-cunas, to use during ceremonial rites under the authority of the main priest, the Willaq Umu. 4,000 priests and their attendants lived at the site. Some of the interior walls were covered with gold plates, while others were polished stone with decorations of precious metals and stones. The awed Spaniards described the temple’s opulence in their chronicles, and when they requested an enormous amount of gold in exchange for the life of the Inca ruler Atahualpa, much of it was gathered from Qorikancha.

As they would do with important temples and palaces throughout Peru, the Spanish demolished much of Qorikancha and erected upon its base their own symbol of authority: a church. It took almost a century to build the Church of Santo Domingo. It was extremely damaged during two large earthquakes, but the Inca stonework incorporated throughout the structure resisted. The second earthquake exposed how extensive the Inca base of Qorikancha actually was, and subsequent renovation further exposed it.

The site now includes Santo Domingo Church and Convent as well as an underground archaeological museum displaying relics from the site. These include mummies, textiles, and sacred idols. If you bought a tourist ticket to visit the archaeological sites in and around Cusco city proper (Sacsayhuaman, Tambomachay, etc), then you already have entrance to the site museum. The temple and the monastery, however, are separately administered because they belong to the diocese. Entrance to this part is 10 soles, which includes an audio tour.

The first thing you’ll notice as you approach Qorikancha is the discrepancy between the Inca base and the colonial structure atop it. All throughout Cusco, the Inca walls are instantly recognizable due to their large, interlocking stones without cement. You can tell how significant Qorikancha was because the stones have a curved surface, like pillows; this extra touch was reserved for the most important buildings.

Upon entering, you’ll find yourself in the convent’s closer, which is lined with religious paintings from the colonial area. There is a quadrangle, or inner patio, with a fountain at its center. The fountain was lined with gold during Inca times, but it was taken away and the fountain re-worked according to Spanish design.

Some of the forgotten parts of the structure which were revealed by Cusco’s devastating 1953 earthquake were six major chambers: the priests’ residence and sanctuary temples consecrated to the deities of the sun, the moon, the stars, lightning, and rainbow. You’ll be able to explore these chambers as you tour the site.

Among the colonial archways, you’ll find Inca trapezoidal doors, and symbolical carvings from both times and cultures intermingle through the interior as well. Great care has been taken to provide exhibits that explain the temples historic workings as well as Inca cosmology.

As you walk out to the garden, you’ll have a view of Cusco and of the area in front of the temple. Once, medicinal herbs once grew there, alongside golden replicas of the plants. There was also a golden sun disc, the holiest symbol for the Incas. Today, it’s a grassy lawn where locals relax and eat ice cream.

You can visit Qorikancha independently with just a free hour or two in your day; it’s located along Cusco’s main street, Avenida El Sol, not far from the main square, so it’s very easy to access. If you’d like to visit with a guide, and to pack more of the city’s archaeological sites and churches into your day, you can opt to take a Cusco city tour, which is an affordable way to take in the city sights.