Inca architecture

Last updated
Wall of the Coricancha temple, at Cuzco, the capital city of the Inca Empire. Inca wall 1 - Coricancha Peru.jpg
Wall of the Coricancha temple, at Cuzco, the capital city of the Inca Empire.

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. [1] 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 (Machu Pikchu) 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. [1]

Contents

Characteristics

Inca buildings were made out of fieldstones or semi-worked stone blocks and dirt set in mortar; adobe walls were also quite common, usually laid over stone foundations. [2] The material used in the Inca buildings depended on the region, for instance, in the coast they used large rectangular adobe blocks while in the Andes they used local stones. [3] The most common shape in Inca architecture was the rectangular building without any internal walls and roofed with wooden beams and thatch, usually made from ichu . [4] There were several variations of this basic design, including gabled roofs, rooms with one or two of the long sides opened and rooms that shared a long wall. [5] Rectangular buildings were used for quite different functions in almost all Inca buildings, from humble houses to palaces and temples. [6] Even so, there are some examples of curved walls on Inca buildings, mostly in regions outside the central area of Peru. [7] Two-storeyed buildings were infrequent; when they were built the second floor was accessed from the outside via a stairway or high terrain rather than from the first floor. [8] Wall apertures, including doors, niches and windows, usually had a trapezoidal shape; they could be fitted with double or triple jambs as a form of ornamentation. [9] Other kinds of decoration were scarce; some walls were painted or adorned with metal plaques, in rare cases walls were sculpted with small animals or geometric patterns. [10]

A trapezoidal doorway, a common element in Inca architecture, at Machu Picchu Macchu Picchu Stones 2.jpg
A trapezoidal doorway, a common element in Inca architecture, at Machu Picchu

The most common composite form in Inca architecture was the kancha , a rectangular enclosure housing three or more rectangular buildings placed symmetrically around a central courtyard. [11] Kancha units served widely different purposes as they formed the basis of simple dwellings as well as of temples and palaces; furthermore, several kancha could be grouped together to form blocks in Inca settlements. [12] A testimony of the importance of these compounds in Inca architecture is that the central part of the Inca capital of Cusco consisted of large kancha, including Qurikancha and the Inca palaces. [13] The best preserved examples of kancha are found at Ollantaytambo, an Inca settlement located along the Urubamba River. [14]

Another popular feature of Inca architecture is the qullqa, or what was once storehouses for grain and other crops.

Inca architecture is widely known for its fine masonry, which features precisely cut and shaped stones closely fitted without mortar ("dry"). [15] However, despite this fame, most Inca buildings were actually made out of fieldstone and adobe as described above. [16] In the 1940s, American archaeologist John H. Rowe classified Inca fine masonry in two types: coursed, which features rectangular shaped stones, and polygonal, which features blocks of irregular shape. [17] Forty years later, Peruvian architect Santiago Agurto established four subtypes by dividing the categories identified by Rowe: [18]

The first two types were used on important buildings or perimeter walls while the last two were employed mostly on terrace walls and river canalization. [19]

Ashlar polygonal masonry at Sacsayhuaman Walls at Sacsayhuaman.jpg
Ashlar polygonal masonry at Sacsayhuamán

According to Graziano Gasparini and Luise Margolies, Inca stonemasonry was inspired by the architecture of Tiwanaku, an archaeological site in modern Bolivia built several centuries before the Inca Empire. [20] They argue that according to ethnohistorical accounts the Incas were impressed by these monuments and employed large numbers of stoneworkers from nearby regions in the construction of their own buildings. [21] In addition to these references, they also identified some formal similarities between Tiwanaku and Inca architecture including the use of cut and polished stone blocks, as well as of double jambs. [22] A problem with this hypothesis is the question of how expertise was preserved in the three hundred years between the collapse of Tiwanaku and the appearance of the Inca Empire and its architecture. As a solution, John Hyslop has argued that the Tiahuanaco stonemasonry tradition was preserved in the Lake Titicaca region in sites such as Tanqa Tanqa, which features walls resembling Inca polygonal masonry. [23]

A second major influence on Inca architecture came from the Wari culture, a civilization contemporary to Tiwanaku. According to Ann Kendall, the Huari introduced their tradition of building rectangular enclosures in the Cusco region, which formed a model for the development of the Inca kancha. [24] There is evidence that such traditions were preserved in the Cusco region after the decline of the Wari as is attested by the enclosures found at sites such as Choquequirao (Chuqi K'iraw), 28 kilometers southeast of the Inca capital. [25]

Masonry and construction methods

Twelve-angled stone in the Hatun Rumiyoc street of Cusco, is an example of Inca masonry CuscoPiedra12angulo.jpg
Twelve-angled stone in the Hatun Rumiyoc street of Cusco, is an example of Inca masonry
Digital reconstruction of original Inca painting on Room 42 wall, Tambo Colorado; this late Inca period fortress/palace is still largely intact despite being constructed of adobe and located in an earthquake-prone area of Peru. Remaining traces of the original paint guided this 2005 reconstruction. Laser scan data taken from a CyArk/University of California research partnership Cyark Tambo Colorado Rm42 3.jpg
Digital reconstruction of original Inca painting on Room 42 wall, Tambo Colorado; this late Inca period fortress/palace is still largely intact despite being constructed of adobe and located in an earthquake-prone area of Peru. Remaining traces of the original paint guided this 2005 reconstruction. Laser scan data taken from a CyArk/University of California research partnership

Extraordinary manpower would have been necessary for large construction projects. The Inca Empire employed a system of tribute to the Inca government in the form of labor, called Mit'a that required all males between 15-50 to work on large public construction projects. Hyslop comments that the 'secret' to the production of fine Inca masonry “…was the social organization necessary to maintain the great numbers of people creating such energy-consuming monuments.” Spanish Chronicler Pedro Cieza De Leon wrote that Pachacuti "ordered 20,000 men sent in from the provinces" for the construction of Sacsayhuamán. [26]

Water engineer Ken Wright estimates that 60 percent of the Inca construction effort was underground. The Inca built their cities with locally available materials, usually including limestone or granite. To cut these hard rocks the Inca used stone, bronze or copper tools, [27] usually splitting the stones along natural fracture lines.

The stones were moved by teams of men pulling with ropes, as shown in the drawings of chronicler Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala. [28] Cieza De Leon also writes "4000 of them quarried and cut the stones; 6000 hauled them with great cables of leather and hemp." [26] Similar ropes used on Incan suspension bridges were made with ichu grass. Small ropes of these materials have been shown to support a load of 4000lbs, and larger ropes may have been able to hold up to 50,000lbs. [29] The stones were rolled to their positions using wooden beams on earth ramps. An unfinished chullpa in Sillustani still has a ramp in place. Father Cobo saw Incan builders using a similar ramp during the construction of the Cusco Cathedral. [27]

It is speculated that stones were initially fit using hammerstones. [30] The stones would then be lifted into place with a rope sling tied to lifting bosses near the stone's base, many of which can still be seen on Incan walls. Adjustments could have been performed by eye alone or aided by the use of a compressible dust, such as the dried sap of the llawlli plant ( Barnadesia horrida ). Abrasive finishers, such as sand or pumice, may also have been used.

Additional surface smoothing near the edges of blocks has been attributed by some researchers to a chemical etching "mortar" composed of pyrite mining slurry and plants containing calcium oxalate. [31] Some species of bacteria from the genus Thiobacillus are able to process sulfidic minerals and produce sulfuric acid as a byproduct; complexation with oxalate increases the etching potential of the mixture. This would correspond with both contemporary descriptions of the Incan masonry process [31] and regional folklore suggesting that Incan masons and a local bird species, the pito , were capable of softening rocks with a local herb. [30]

Usually the walls of Incan buildings were slightly inclined inside and the corners were rounded. This, in combination with masonry thoroughness, led Incan buildings to have a peerless seismic resistance [31] thanks to high static and dynamic steadiness, absence of resonant frequencies, and stress concentration points. During a small or moderate earthquake, masonry was stable; during strong earthquakes, stone blocks have been observed "dancing" and settling into their original positions afterwards. [32]

Another building method was called "pillow-faced" architecture. The Incas would sand large, finely-shaped stones which they would fit together in jigsaw-like patterns. Pillow-faced architecture was typically used for temples and royal places like Machu Picchu.

Ashlar masonry was used in the most sacred, elite Incan structures; for example, the Acllawasi ("House of the Chosen Woman"), the Coricancha ("Golden Enclosure") in Cuzco, and the Sun Temple at Machu Picchu. Thus it seems that ashlar may have been more greatly valued by the Inca, perhaps considered more difficult than polygonal ("pillow-faced") masonry. Though polygonal masonry may be aesthetically more impressive, the facture of ashlar masonry tends to be unforgiving to mistakes; if the corner of a polygonal masonry block is broken, it can be reshaped to fit, but ashlar masonry blocks must remain intact. [33]

Symbolism and patronage

Palace of Diego Sayri Tupac, Yucay Casa de Sayri Tupac (Interior).jpg
Palace of Diego Sayri Túpac, Yucay

Aesthetics

Inca architecture is strongly characterized by its use of the natural environment. [34] The Inca managed to seamlessly merge their architecture into the surrounding land and its specificities. [35] At its peak, the Inca Empire spanned from Ecuador to Chile. Yet despite geographic variances, Inca architecture remained consistent in its ability to visually blend the built and natural environment. [35]

In particular, Inca walls practiced mortarless masonry and used partially worked, irregularly shaped rocks to complement the organic qualities and diversity of the natural environment. [36] Through the dry fitted masonry techniques of caninacukpirca, the Incas shaped their stone to conceal natural outcrops, fit tight crevices, and ultimately incorporate the landscape into their infrastructure. [34]

The Inca also used natural bedrock as their structural foundations (to help keep the buildings stable). [1] This was for stabilizing their structures built in the Andes mountain range of South America, while aesthetically disguising the boundaries between mountain and edifice. [1] In combination, the diversity of stone shape, materiality, and facture all furthered the naturalistic illusion of the Inca's built environment. [37]

Politics

Inca employment and integration of the natural environment into their architecture played an essential role in their program of civilizational expansion and cultural imperialism. [1] Patronage of powerful elites and rulers of the Inca empire was a major impetus behind the construction of Inca structures, and much of the remaining architecture we see today was most likely royal estates or mobile capitals for Sapa Inca to inhabit. [35] The Sapa Inca naturalized and asserted their political rule through their palaces' aesthetic appeal to a reciprocal relationship between their imperialism and the earth itself. [34] The blended, architectural aesthetic colored their political expansion in a sense of inseparable, timeless, and spiritual authority. [35] For example, in the royal estate of Chinchero, the Incas adapted their large-scale earthwork and massive stone construction to the land's dramatically steep valley in order to create intense, visual drama. [35] Similarly to the architecture of other mountainous Inca citadels, such as Machu Picchu, the Chinchero estate's dynamic construction into the severe landscape demonstrated the raw, physical power of the Incas, and projected an authoritative aura for those who approached. [35]

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Dean, Carolyn (September 2007). "The Inka Married the Earth: Integrated Outcrops and the Making of Place". The Art Bulletin. 89 (3): 502–518. doi:10.1080/00043079.2007.10786358. JSTOR   25067338. S2CID   194099969.
  2. Hyslop, Inka settlement, pp. 11–12.
  3. Vergara, Teresa, “Arte y Cultura del Tahuantinsuyo”, p.317
  4. Hyslop, Inka settlement, pp. 5–6.
  5. Hyslop, inca settlement, p. 6.
  6. Gasparini and Margolies, Inca architecture, p. 134.
  7. Hyslop, Inka settlement, pp. 7–8.
  8. Hyslop, Inka settlement, p. 8.
  9. Hyslop, Inka settlement, pp. 9–10.
  10. Hyslop, Inka settlement, pp. 10–11.
  11. Hyslop, Inka settlement, pp. 16–17.
  12. Hyslop, Inka settlement, p. 17.
  13. Gasparini and Margolies, Inca architecture, pp. 181, 185.
  14. Gasparini and Margolies, Inca architecture, p. 187.
  15. Hyslop, Inka settlement, p. 12.
  16. Protzen, Inca architecture, p. 211.
  17. Rowe, An introduction, pp. 24–26.
  18. Agurto, Estudios acerca, pp. 144–175.
  19. Hyslop, Inka settlement, p. 15.
  20. Gasparini and Margolies, Inca architecture, p. 25.
  21. Gasparini and Margolies, Inca architecture, pp. 78.
  22. Gasparini and Margolies, Inca architecture, pp. 12–13.
  23. Hyslop, Inka settlement, p. 23.
  24. Kendall, Aspects of Inca architecture, p. 352.
  25. Hyslop, Inka settlement, p. 20.
  26. 1 2 Leon, Cieza (1553). "Chronicles of Peru Part II" . Retrieved 2022-01-02.
  27. 1 2 Rowe, John (1946). "Inca Culture At The Time Of The Spanish Conquest" (PDF). Retrieved 2022-01-02.
  28. Ayala, Felipe (1600–1650). "El primer nueva corónica y buen gobierno" . Retrieved 2022-01-02.
  29. Ochsendorf, John (2015). "Inka Road Symposium 08 - Inka Engineering: The Technology and Culture of Roads and Bridges". YouTube . Retrieved 2022-01-02.
  30. 1 2 Protzen, Jean-Pierre (1983). "Inca Quarrying and Stonecutting" (PDF). Ñawpa Pacha. 21 (1): 183–214. doi:10.1179/naw.1983.21.1.005 . Retrieved 2022-09-30.
  31. 1 2 3 Tributsch, Helmut (2017). "On the reddish, glittery mud the Inca used for perfecting their stone masonry". Journal of Earth Sciences & Environmental Studies. 3 (1): 309–323. doi: 10.25177/jeses.3.1.2 . Retrieved 2022-09-30.
  32. Mala, Alisa (2021). "Machu Picchu, Peru" . Retrieved 2022-09-30.
  33. Nair, Stella (2015). At Home with the Sapa Inca: Architecture, Space, and Legacy at Chinchero. University of Texas Print. ISBN   978-1477302507.
  34. 1 2 3 "Rock and Rule | A Culture of StoneInka Perspectives on Rock | Books Gateway | Duke University Press" (PDF). read.dukeupress.edu. Retrieved 2018-04-12.
  35. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Nair, Stella (2015). At Home with the Sapa Inca : Architecture, Space, and Legacy at Chinchero. University of Texas: University of Texas Press. p. 6. ISBN   9781477302491.
  36. Niles, Susan A. (1987). Callachaca: Style and Status in an Inca Community. University of Iowa: University of Iowa Press. ISBN   9781587291685.
  37. "IntroductionComing to Terms with Inka Rocks | A Culture of StoneInka Perspectives on Rock | Books Gateway | Duke University Press" (PDF). read.dukeupress.edu. Retrieved 2018-04-12.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cusco</span> City in Peru

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 Department of Cusco and of the Cusco Province. 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).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Machu Picchu</span> 15th-century Inca citadel in Peru

Machu Picchu is a 15th-century Inca citadel located in the Eastern Cordillera of southern Peru on a 2,430-meter (7,970 ft) mountain ridge. 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 tropical mountain climate. In reference to the site's name, for most English or Spanish speakers, the first 'c' in Picchu is silent. In English, the name is pronounced MAH-choo PEE-choo or MATCH-oo PEAK-choo, in Spanish as or, and in Quechua as.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inca road system</span> Transportation system of the Inca empire

The Inca road system was the most extensive and advanced transportation system in pre-Columbian South America. It was about 40,000 kilometres (25,000 mi) long. The construction of the roads required a large expenditure of time and effort.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chachapoya culture</span> Andean culture

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ollantaytambo</span> Archaeological site in Peru

Ollantaytambo is a town and an Inca archaeological site in southern Peru some 72 km (45 mi) by road northwest of the city of Cusco. It is located at an altitude of 2,792 m (9,160 ft) above sea level in the district of Ollantaytambo, province of Urubamba, Cusco region. During the Inca Empire, Ollantaytambo was the royal estate of Emperor Pachacuti, who conquered the region, and built the town and a ceremonial center. At the time of the Spanish conquest of Peru, it served as a stronghold for Manco Inca Yupanqui, leader of the Inca resistance. Located in the Sacred Valley of the Incas, it is now an important tourist attraction on account of its Inca ruins and its location en route to one of the most common starting points for the four-day, three-night hike known as the Inca Trail.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ashlar</span> Finely dressed stone and associated masonry

Ashlar is a cut and dressed stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sacred Valley</span> Valley in the Andes Mountains of Peru

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temple of the Moon (Peru)</span> Archaeological site in Peru

The Temple of the Moon is an Incan ceremonial temple on Huayna Picchu near Machu Picchu, in Peru. The site is made up of stone masonry and an open-face, shallow cave.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coricancha</span> Archaeological site in Peru

Coricancha, Curicancha, Koricancha, Qoricancha or Qorikancha was the most important temple in the Inca Empire, and was described by early Spanish colonialists. It is located in Cusco, Peru, which was the capital of the empire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Choquequirao</span> Archaeological site in Peru

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inca technology</span> Devices, and technologies invented or used in the Inca civilisation

Inca technology includes devices, technologies and construction methods used by the Inca people of western South America, including the methods Inca engineers used to construct the cities and road network of the Inca Empire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tambo (Inca structure)</span> Inca military and administrative structure

A tambo was an Inca structure built for administrative and military purposes. Found along the extensive roads, tambos typically contained supplies, served as lodging for itinerant state personnel, and were depositories of quipu-based accounting records. Individuals from nearby communities within the Inca empire were conscripted to maintain and serve in the tambos, as part of the mit'a labor system. Tambos were spaced along Inca roads, generally about one day's travel apart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Architecture of Peru</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inca army</span> Army of the historical Inca Empire

The Inca army was the multi-ethnic armed forces used by the Tawantin Suyu to expand its empire and defend the sovereignty of the Sapa Inca in its territory.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ushnu</span> Inca architectural object

In the Inca Empire the ushnu was an altar for cults to the deities, a throne for the Sapa Inca (emperor), an elevated place for judgment and a reviewing stand of military command. In several cases the ushnu may have been used as a solar observatory. Ushnus mark the center of plazas of the Inca administrative centers all along the highland path of the Inca road system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inca Trail to Machu Picchu</span> Ancient trail in Peru

The Inca Trail to Machu Picchu is a hiking trail in Peru that terminates at Machu Picchu. It consists of three overlapping trails: Mollepata, Classic, and One Day. Mollepata is the longest of the three routes with the highest mountain pass and intersects with the Classic route before crossing Warmiwañusqa. Located in the Andes mountain range, the trail passes through several types of Andean environments including cloud forest and alpine tundra. Settlements, tunnels, and many Incan ruins are located along the trail before ending the terminus at the Sun Gate on Machu Picchu mountain. The two longer routes require an ascent to beyond 4,200 metres (13,800 ft) above sea level, which can result in altitude sickness.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tipón</span> Archaeological park in Peru near Cusco with an Incan monumental hydraulic system

Tipón, is a sprawling early fifteenth-century Inca archaeological site that is situated between 3,250 metres (10,660 ft) and 3,960 metres (12,990 ft) above sea level, located 22 kilometres (14 mi) southeast of Cusco near the village of Tipón. It consists of several ruins enclosed by a powerful defensive wall about 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) long. The most renown part of the park is the group of precise and right angled monumental terraces irrigated by a network of water canals fed by a monumental fountain channeling water from a natural spring. The site includes ancient residential areas and a remarkable amount of petroglyphs in its upper part.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intihuatana, Urubamba</span> Archaeological site in Peru

Intihuatana at the archaeological site of Machu Picchu is a notable ritual stone associated with the astronomic clock or calendar of the Inca in South America. Machu Picchu was thought to have been built c. 1450 by the Sapa Inca Pachacuti as a country estate. In the late 16th century, the Viceroy Francisco de Toledo and the clergy destroyed those Intihuatana which they could find. They did so as they believed that the Incas' religion was a blasphemy and the religious significance of the Intihuatana could be a political liability. The Intihuatana of Machu Picchu was found intact by Bingham in 1911, indicating that the Spanish conquerors had not found it. Intihuatana was damaged on September 8, 2000 when a crane being used in an ad shoot toppled over and chipped off a piece of the granite.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inca kancha</span> Inca walled enclosure composed of buildings that face onto a courtyard

A kancha is an Inca rectangular or trapezoidal walled enclosure composed of single-room buildings that face onto a common open courtyard or inner patio in the middle of the enclosure. Kanchas are widespread in the Inca Empire and normally have only one entrance gate. An Inca kancha includes constructions intended for a single function: housing, temples, palaces. In Cusco, the capital of the Empire there existed many kanchas, among them the Coricancha, the Sun temple, the Hatunkancha that housed aqllawasi the house of the acclas and Amarukancha, the large hall facing the main square called Huakaypata. Other notable kanchas are found in Ollantaytambo and Patallaqta.

References