Like many ancient cities in the world, Cusco ‘s grandeur was built over centuries. In the heart of Cusco sits Coricancha, the Inca Empire’s most important temple. Though modern Cusco has expanded enough so that the original puma design is nearly impossible to make out, Coricancha still has an important place in the city and it pulls in many visitors. Nowhere is this more evident than at Coricancha – the temple of the sun – which they built as the crown jewel of their When Pachacútec assumed the Incan throne in 1438, he began to reform the city of Cusco by restructuring the street grid, which remains to this day. George Squier drew the first plans. The Coricancha (spelled Qoricancha or Koricancha, depending on which scholar you read and meaning something like "Golden Enclosure") was an important Inca temple complex located in the capital city of Cusco, Peru and dedicated to Inti, the sun god of the Incas. The Coricancha (from the Quechua words Quri Kancha meaning "Golden Temple"), originally named Inti Kancha ("Temple of the Sun") or Inti Wasi ("Sun House"), was the most important temple in the Inca Empire, dedicated primarily to Inti, the Sun God. The city is said to be designed in the shape of a puma, with Coricancha located in the animal’s tail, and considered the holiest site in Incan mythology.Believed to have been built around 1200 AD, the temple was constructed using the distinctive and intricate masonry style of the Incas. Today, Cusco is a bustling town that holds a wealth of pre-Inca, Inca, and colonial history. Coricancha Temple Cusco, the famous Temple of the sun is the most important! Sun Temple. In Cusco, every step seems to lead to the discovery of a wonderful archaeological site such as Sacsayhuaman, with its imposing stone walls; or Pisac, where the buildings, plazas and temples display the finest Inca architecture. 2005. Her work has appeared in scholarly publications such as Archaeology Online and Science.Quarry Sites: The Archaeological Study of Ancient MiningThe Founding of Tenochtitlan and the Origin of the AztecsHattusha, Capital City of the Hittite Empire: a Photo EssayBiography of Túpac Amaru, the Last of the Incan LordsInca Road System - 25,000 Miles of Road Connecting the Inca Empire This means that the name of the temple is roughly translated as "Golden Walls".Chat to one of our destination experts today to begin planning your perfect vacation.We offer high-quality trips to Peru, Ecuador, Brazil and all of South America. In: Orchiston W, Nakamura T, and Strom RG, editors. Disputes over who was to become the next Inca, as well as a devastating smallpox epidemic brought on by European explorers in the 1530s threw the empire into chaos. Today, Cusco is a bustling town that holds a wealth of pre-Inca, Inca, and colonial history. The wall was constructed of finely cut parallel-piped stones, taken from a specific section of the Rumiqolqa quarry where a sufficient number of flow-banded blue-grey stones could be mined.Ogburn (2013) suggests that this part of the Rumiqolqa quarry was chosen for Coricancha and other important structures in Cusco because the stone approximated the color and type of the gray andesite from the Capia quarry used to create gateways and monolithic sculptures at Looted in the 16th century soon after the Spanish conquistadors arrived (and before the Inca conquest was complete), the Coricancha complex was largely dismantled in the 17th century to build the Catholic Church of Santo Domingo atop the Inca foundations. In fact, it was the only temple that exists only for religious ceremonies and was the most sacred temple of all the Incas. The religious facility of Inca, and so it is a synthesis of the local organization, architecture, and religion which had reached its development top by 1438. Shadows cast by stones placed on the foothills could be seen from the temple, marking out the solstice and equinoxes observed by the Incan empire.The temple complex consisted of four main chambers, each dedicated to a different deity of the moon, stars, thunder and rainbows. Coricancha Temple Cusco. Coricancha Temple Cusco. Most of the ceque pilgrimage lines started at or near the Coricancha, extending out from its corners or nearby structures to more than 300 huacas or places of ritual importance.The Coricancha complex was said by Spanish chroniclers to have been laid out according to the sky. But ultimately, it was the Incans who had the last laugh, at least at Coricancha. Coricancha was the center of Cusco, in more ways than just geographical. Fue Juan Pizarro (hermano del Francisco Pizarro) quien cedió el Coricancha a la congregación de los dominicos en 1534.