Machu Picchu is a worldwide known example of ancient Peruvian architecture.
Peruvian architecture is the architecture carried out during any time in what is now Peru, and by Peruvian architects worldwide. Its diversity and long history spans from ancient Peru, the Inca Empire, Colonial Peru to the present day.
Peruvian colonial architecture is the conjunction of European styles exposed to the influence of indigenous imagery. Early academia has tended to view the Spanish architectural and religious takeover as complete and swift, but revisionist history emphasizes the lasting role of the indigenous in religious architecture.[1] Two of the most well-known examples of the Renaissance period are the Cathedral of Santo Domingo and the Santa Clara church in Cusco.
Peruvian architecture is surrounded by a wide range of elements from many architectures: its origins date back to the structures of the Incas, and later to colonial-era buildings, and Peruvian architects' transformation based on Baroque and Neoclassic European styles.
Fortunately, a series of examples of Incan architecture stays intact, which was developed until the beginning of the Spanish conquest in 1532.
By the middle of the 20th century, a period of modernization and construction appeared in Lima's historical center in 1988 UNESCO declared Lima's historical center a world heritage site, which inspired many laws designed to protect and care for the city's buildings.
Archaeological Sites
In Peru, the thousand-year-old architectural legacy of some of its many archaeological sites (19,903 to be exact). Here are some of the Archaeological Sites.
Machu Picchu
Located in the South of Peru, in the Urubamba Valley. Machu Picchu, Cuzco.
It was built before the fifteenth century on the rocky promontory that connects the Machu Picchu and Huayna Picchu mountains on the eastern slope of the Central Cordillera. It is stone buildings that makeup steps, terraces, and paths of a fortress that is wisely placed in its landscape. Throughout its existence, it has enjoyed a veil of mystery.
Pachacámac
Located in the South of Lima, in the Lurín Valley.
This archaeological complex was the most important religious-ceremonial center of the central coast of Peru for more than 1500 years, during the pre-Inca and Inca periods.
Puruchuco
Located on the Northern coast of Lima, in the District of Ate.
The construction of this architectural complex comes from the Inca culture. This monument was the palace of a curaca (ruler) where he lived and administered.
Chan Chan
Located on the northern coast of Peru, northwest of Trujillo.[2][3]
It is the largest adobe-built city in the Americas and the second-largest in the world. It is formed by nine citadels (small walled cities). The whole complex was the capital of the Chimor Kingdom and the Chimú culture.
Sacsayhuamán
Located north of the city of Cuzco.
The large plaza, capable of holding thousands of people, was designed for communal ceremonial activities. Several of the large structures at the site may also have been used during rituals. A similar relationship to that between Cuzco and Sacsayhuamán was replicated by the Inca in their distant colony
Pikillaqta
Located in the district of Lucre, southeast of the city of Cuzco
Pikillaqta is a village of the Wari people. Wari was the Centre village and other cities like Pikillaqta were influenced by it. The Wari also inhabited many other sites around the area.
Nazca Lines
Located in the Jumana Pampas, Nazca Desert in Ica.
The Nazca Lines (Líneas de Nazca) are ancient geoglyphs composed of several hundred figures that range from simple designs such as lines to complex zoomorphic, hylomorphic, and geometric figures that appear traced on the earth's surface.
Cusco or Cuzco is a city in southeastern Peru, near the Sacred Valley of the Andes mountain range and the Huatanay river. It is the capital of the eponymous province and department. The city is the seventh most populous in Peru; in 2017, it had a population of 428,450. Its elevation is around 3,400 m (11,200 ft).
Machu Picchu is a 15th-century Inca citadel located in the Eastern Cordillera of southern Peru on a mountain ridge at 2,430 meters (7,970 ft). Often referred to as the "Lost City of the Incas", it is the most familiar icon of the Inca Empire. It is located in the Machupicchu District within Urubamba Province above the Sacred Valley, which is 80 kilometers (50 mi) northwest of Cusco. The Urubamba River flows past it, cutting through the Cordillera and creating a canyon with a subtropical mountain climate.
Peruvian culture is the gradual blending of Amerindian cultures with European and Asian ethnic groups. The ethnic diversity and rugged geography of Peru allowed diverse traditions and customs to co-exist. Peruvian culture has been deeply influenced by Native culture, Spanish culture, and Asian culture. Other minor influences on their culture are Chinese, Japanese, and other European peoples.
The Wari were a Middle Horizon civilization that flourished in the south-central Andes and coastal area of modern-day Peru, from about 500 to 1000 AD.
Vilcabamba or Willkapampa, often called the Lost City of the Incas, is a lost city in the Echarate District of La Convención Province in the Cuzco Region of Peru. Vilcabamba, in Quechua, means "sacred plain". The modern name for the Inca ruins of Vilcabamba is Espíritu Pampa.
The Chachapoyas, also called the "Warriors of the Clouds", was a culture of the Andes living in the cloud forests of the southern part of the Department of Amazonas of present-day Peru. The Inca Empire conquered their civilization shortly before the Spanish conquest in the 16th century. At the time of the arrival of the conquistadors, the Chachapoyas were one of the many nations ruled by the Incas, although their incorporation had been difficult due to their constant resistance to Inca troops.
The Sacred Valley of the Incas, or the Urubamba Valley, is a valley in the Andes of Peru, north of the Inca capital of Cusco. It is located in the present-day Peruvian region of Cusco. In colonial documents it was referred to as the "Valley of Yucay". The Sacred Valley was incorporated slowly into the incipient Inca Empire during the period from 1000 to 1400.
Pre-Columbian art refers to the visual arts of indigenous peoples of the Caribbean, North, Central, and South Americas from at least 13,000 BCE to the European conquests starting in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. The pre-Columbian era continued for a time after these in many places, or had a transitional phase afterwards. Many types of perishable artifacts that were once very common, such as woven textiles, typically have not been preserved, but Precolumbian monumental sculpture, metalwork in gold, pottery, and painting on ceramics, walls, and rocks have survived more frequently.
Inca architecture is the most significant pre-Columbian architecture in South America. The Incas inherited an architectural legacy from Tiwanaku, founded in the 2nd century B.C.E. in present-day Bolivia. A core characteristic of the architectural style was to use the topography and existing materials of the land as part of the design. The capital of the Inca empire, Cuzco, still contains many fine examples of Inca architecture, although many walls of Inca masonry have been incorporated into Spanish Colonial structures. The famous royal estate of Machu Picchu is a surviving example of Inca architecture. Other significant sites include Sacsayhuamán and Ollantaytambo. The Incas also developed an extensive road system spanning most of the western length of the continent and placed their distinctive architecture along the way, thereby visually asserting their imperial rule along the frontier.
Peruvian art has its origin in the Andean civilizations. These civilizations rose in the territory of modern Peru before the arrival of the Spanish.
Choquequirao is an Incan site in southern Peru, similar in structure and architecture to Machu Picchu. The ruins are buildings and terraces at levels above and below Sunch'u Pata, the truncated hill top. The hilltop was anciently leveled and ringed with stones to create a 30 by 50 m platform.
Peruvians are the citizens of Peru. What is now Peru has been inhabited for several millennia by cultures such as the Caral before the Spanish conquest in the 16th century. Peruvian population decreased from an estimated 5–9 million in the 1520s to around 600,000 in 1620 mainly because of infectious diseases carried by the Spanish. Spaniards and Africans arrived in large numbers in 1532 under colonial rule, mixing widely with each other and with Native Peruvians. During the Republic, there has been a gradual immigration of European people. Chinese and Japanese arrived in large numbers at the end of the 19th century.
The Inca aqueducts refer to any of a series of aqueducts built by the Inca people. The Inca built such structures to increase arable land and provide drinking water and baths to the population. Due to water scarcity in the Andean region, advanced water management was necessary for the Inca to thrive and expand along much of the coast of Peru. Such structures, some of which survive today, show the advanced hydraulic and civil engineering capabilities of the Inca.
Since the 2000s, Tourism in Peru has made up the nation's third largest industry, behind fishing and mining. Tourism is directed towards archaeological monuments, ecotourism in the Peruvian Amazon, cultural tourism in colonial cities, gastronomic tourism, adventure tourism, and beach tourism. Iperú is the Peruvian national tourist office.
The Andean civilizations were South American complex societies of many indigenous people. They stretched down the spine of the Andes for 4,000 km (2,500 mi) from southern Colombia, to Ecuador and Peru, including the deserts of coastal Peru, to north Chile and northwest Argentina. Archaeologists believe that Andean civilizations first developed on the narrow coastal plain of the Pacific Ocean. The Caral or Norte Chico civilization of coastal Peru is the oldest known civilization in the Americas, dating back to 3500 BCE. Andean civilizations are one of at least five civilizations in the world deemed by scholars to be "pristine." The concept of a "pristine" civilization refers to a civilization that has developed independently of external influences and is not a derivative of other civilizations.
Patallacta, Llactapata or Q'ente Marka is an archaeological site in Peru located in the Cusco Region, Urubamba Province, Machupicchu District. It is situated southeast of the site Machu Picchu, at the confluence of the rivers Cusichaca and Vilcanota on a mountain named Patallacta.
The Historic Centre of Cusco, is the historic city centre of the Peruvian city of Cusco, the former capital of the Inca Empire. It consists of two areas: the first is the Monumental Zone established by the Peruvian government in 1972, and the second one—contained within the first one—is the World Heritage Site established by UNESCO in 1983 under the name of City of Cuzco, where a selected number of buildings are marked with the organisation's blue-and-white shield since 2021.
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