Qoriqancha - Santo Domingo Convent, Cusco

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El Coricancha (cori= oro ; kancha = recinto) era una construcción dedicada al dios sol ( Inti )que estaba en el corazón de Cuzco y era el lugar más importante y sagrado de los Incas . Sobre este templo se construyó en 1534 la iglesia y el convento de Santo Domingo
Hoy en día se puede visitar el museo , la iglesia y ver como han convivido las dos culturas
5crThe Coricancha (cori = gold ; kancha = hall ) was a building dedicated to god the sun ( Inti ) that it was in the hart of Cuzco and it was the most sacred and more important place of the Incas
Over this temple it was built on 1534 the church and the convent of Santo Domingo
Now a days you may visit the museum , the church and see how both cultures have being living

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Originally the pagan temple of the sun covered in gold, the Spanish converted this beautiful building and surrounding grounds into a convent (monestary). There are still monks living there today although the tourists are not allowed into their quarters.

See examples of Incan architecture, remains from the pagan temple and amazing works of art. Definitely worth a visit.

Coricancha or in Quechua, Q'orikancha means "covered with gold". The Inca walls that are bare in this sites were covered with gold. This site is being visited if you take a city tour, and you will have to pay your own entrance fee. (6 USD). You will be directed by your guide to the Inca walls and see how the stones were cut, and assembled together to form exact joints between all of them. You will also see the foundations that used to be walls and the inner courtyard fountain that used to be covered with gold.

Coricancha also hosts the Santo Domingo church which is still used for religious purposes by the locals.

There is a nice view over the gardens and great photo opportunity from there.

This small underground museum has just about the same artifacts than the Inca museum. The most interesting parts are the skulls that have holes in them, the ones that are elongated and also the mummified bodies that are well preserved. For the rest you will see the tools made out of the stones to cut, sculpt, kill, and else, some pottery, some textiles.

Unfortunately not all is explained in english, so unless you have a guide with you, or you speak spanish, you're on your own.

Admission is covered by the boleto touristico.

Santo Domingo: This church is built over what once was the most magnificent temple in the Americas, Coricancha or Temple of the Sun. Its courtyards were filled with life-sized gold and silver representations of all the flora and fauna of the empire. Pizarro’s men looted the temple as part of the royal ransom of Inca Atahualpa, who was held prisoner in Cajamarca by the Spaniards and later killed. An earthquake destroyed the Santo Domingo church in 1950 revealing the Inca walls that were hidden or plastered over. These walls of the Temple of the Sun are said to be the finest example of Inca stonework in existence.

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The Koricancha and Convent of Santo Domingo has a rich history and story attached to it. Our guide told us part of the history of the site. The Koricancha was a temple built by the Incas to worship Inti their Sun god. It has been said the walls were covered in gold and shows of wealth. There was a huge figure of a Sun god made in all gold. The god was said to have a rounded face with thunder and flames of fire. In addition, the temple housed special Incan mummies that were decorated in gold and gems and were taken out on special occasions for processions. The people considered these mummies to be like saints living with god. The people were controlled by the priest religion and these mummies. They were afraid that if they did something against the church, something would happen to their mummies.

Life for the Incas changed when Pizarro entered Cusco with Spanish troops. Soon after the city was plundered of all it gold and wealth. The coming of the Spanish brought a new god and the religion of Christianity to this region as well. Many of the images of Incan gods were destroyed because of this.

In 1534, the site of Koricancha was given to the Dominican order. They kept the foundation of Koricancha and used some of the rocks from Koricancha to made the convent of Santo Domingo. Inside the grounds you can still see the strong construction of the old Inca walls and portals. Walking through the convent you can see the remains of an altar from the Inca temple.

The convent of Santo Domingo was completed in 1633. Inside the convent you will see several chapels with some sculptures and paintings. There are sculptures of Saint Dominic and painting of the Virgin of the Rosaries. The outside courtyard is very beautiful and impressive. In the middle of it is a stone rectangular tank coming from an Incan temple. The walls of the convent surrounding the main yard have paintings about the life of Saint Dominic. The people in the paintings have Spanish styled clothing.

One of the fabulous historical sites to visit in Cuzco with both Incan and colonial architecture. If you take a city tour this will most definately be included on your tour or you can visit on your own for 6 soles. Going with a tour guide in your language will give you much more insight to the site than wandering around aimlessly, but there are also booklets that give good information if you don't like the guided type of sightseeing. Be prepared for the throngs of people selling things out front, as with most tourist sites around Cuzco

This place is extraordinary. Originally was the Temple of The Sun, where the Inca celebrated the most important ceremony for this culture during the soltice of summer.
Today you'll appreciate a strange mix of structures, on one hand the spaniard church and in the other hand the original Koricancha temple.
The most spreaded versions tell us that this is the best example of the fusion of the kechua civilization with the spaniard culture.
The reality is very different.
This is the perfect example of the huge efforts made by the Spanish Empire to dissapear each trace of the kechua civilization. They built the Santo Domingo Church over the oldest walls of the Koricancha temple, destroying an important part of the temple and hidding the rest under the large church building.
But the kechua structures demonstrated that are designed to survive, and the church is just an ugly fragile building over the original beauty.
This region of the world is shaked constantly by strong earthquakes (the kechuas knew it very well) and after each one the church was destroyed at least partially, and the oldest inca temple outcrope victorious, exposing his admirable architecture without any damage.
After a lot of events like this with his expensives repairing jobs, the spaniards learned to respect the original stones astonished by his strenght. And now we knows they are loosing the battle.

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The Qorikancha was the great Inca temple and the center of Inca Religious life. To display their dominance the Spanish destroid it and built a convent on it's foundations and with it's stones.

Of course their workmanship was not as good as the incas and when a earthquake topled the orriginal convent the Foundations held strong. The symbolism sems to backfire to me.

When you visit the ticket will get you into the convent area where the Inca foundations are most evident. This is the most interesting part of the church, even worth getting a guide for but do not miss the interior of the church itself. Probably not as impressive as the temple it replaces but still a good example of Colonial churchs.

Here was located the old Sun Temple in Inca times, the richest temple of all the Tihauntinsuyo. In fact you can still see the inca remains in the front esplanade, the church and monastery was built on top of the Inca ruins.
Entrance 1,60 USD. Boleto Turistico is not valid here.
This temple was literally "covered with gold" in ancient times, including statues of plants and animals in that material. All that is now gone (to Europe) but you can admire the original walls of the Temple.
Now it houses the convent of Santo Domingo.