Hatunrumiyoc - Twelve-Angle Stone, Cusco

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Hatunrumiyoc is located close to Plaza de Nazarenas, not far from Plaza de Armas. It is a narrow pedestrian street, famous for its Inca walls where huge stones are precisely carved to fit together without mud or concrete. You’ll find the masterpiece, a 12-angled stone, about halfway down the street…

The Inca stonework was incredible, actually so good that Spanish conquerors often used the old Inca structures as foundations for their own buildings. Hatunrumiyoc is a great place to have a closer look at their skills...

Walking around Cusco you will be able to see many Inca walls, where you can admire the skills they had, to build such walls with such perfection, and in fact without using any mortar. In most cases (unless the wall has been damaged due to an earthquake for example) you can't even fit a paper in between the stones, so you can get an idea of how perfectly they fit.
One of the most important examples of these skills can be found on the Calle Hatunrumiyoc, where you will find the walls of what used to be an Inca palace, and nowadays is the Archbishop's palace. There you will find the famous 12 angle stone, but you can also try to find the 13 and 14 angle stones, which are not as perfect, but also very interesting!

Inca stonework can be admired along many streets of Cusco, in particular, the area around Callejon Loreto and Calle San Agustin.

The stones were all carved in various shapes and somehow fitted PERFECTLY without mortar in between. These stones are so strong together that they can withstand earthquakes. Normal walls built during the colonial or modern times meanwhile collapsed during such earthquakes.

Along some parts of the wall, there were some attempts to try and 'restore' these Inca stonework, but no one managed to fit the right stone to the right spot.

The most photogenic stone is the stone of 12 angles on Calle Hatun Rumiyoc, halfway along the second block on the right-hand side going away from the Plaza de Armas.

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Los muros construidos por los incas son de piedras muy pulidas y con un efecto de altorrelieve llamado "almohadillado" y podían ser de tamaño uniforme o formar intrincados diseños semejando "rompecabezas"La más famosa de ellas es la llamada "piedra de los 12 ángulos"
El Cuzco se caracteriza por superponer un segundo piso de adobe sobre el paño de muro incaico
The Inca walls are made with polished stones and with an effect of high relieve called "cushioning" . They could be of uniform sizes or of different forms that made a design like a "puzzle" . The most famous is the called "12 corners stone" It is characteristic in Cuzco to put an adobe second floor over the walls

Northeast of the Plaza de Armas, off Calle Palacio, is Hatunrumiyoc, a cobblestone street lined with impressive walls of stones. Past the Archbishop's Palace on the right side is the famed 12-angled stone (now appropriated as the symbol of Cuzqueña beer), which is magnificently fitted into the wall.

One of the things we both looked forward to seeing was the famous Inca Wall and it was even more amazinf than we had imagined. The Spanish conquerors often used the Inca structures as foundations for their buildings because of their fine workmanship. The huge stones were intricately carved to fit together without concrete, mud, or mortar of any kind.

Northeast of the Plaza de Armas, off Calle Palacio, is Hatunrumiyoc, a cobblestone street lined with impressive walls of stones. Past the Archbishop's Palace on the right side is the famed 12-angled stone (now appropriated as the symbol of Cuzqueña beer), which is magnificently fitted into the wall.
Another pedestrian alleyway, Inca Roca; about halfway down on the right side is a series of stones said to form the shape of a puma, including the head, large paws, and tail. It's not all that obvious, but we were lucky enough to have a local poiint it out and we were happy to give here a few coins for her troubles.

Inca Roca lived in the 13th or 14th century. Halfway along the palace's side wall, nestled amid other stones, is the famous 12-angled stone, an example of masterly Inca masonry. There's nothing sacred about the 12 angles, other than that today the stone is the symbol that appears on every bottle of Cusqueña beer. Inca masons were famous for incorporating stones with many more sides than 12 into their buildings. Ask one of the shopkeepers along the street to point it out.

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Inca Roca lived in the 13th or 14th century. Halfway along the palace's side wall, nestled amid other stones, is the famous 12-angled stone, an example of masterly Inca masonry. There's nothing sacred about the 12 angles, other than that today the stone is the symbol that appears on every bottle of Cusqueña beer. Inca masons were famous for incorporating stones with many more sides than 12 into their buildings. Ask one of the shopkeepers along the street to point it out.

Hatunrumiyoc was the palace of Inca Roca. The walls of this palace is famous, with big poligonic stones. At the street called Hatunrumiyoc (big stone) is the largest Inca wall of Cuzco. In the wall is the famous stone with the twelve angles (piedra de doce ángulos).
Look at the stone work and see how skilful the Inca people was.

12 Sided Trapezoidal Niche block - Apparently this is the only example of a 12 sided rock. It is in the wall from the palace of the 6th Inca.