Photos

This photo was taken at the hallway that sits adjacent to a huge court yard of the famous museum. I would not know what is in the mind of the young woman who is shown in deep thought while a plant basks in the sun at the foreground. So many things to think about when you go through this museum.

This is a combined sacred sites of Koricancha (also spelled Coriconcha, Qoricancha or Qorickancha) and Santo Domingo in Cusco. This museum vividly illustrates ancient Andean culture's collision with Western Europe. The temple of one culture sits atop and encloses the other.

The extraordinarily crafted Temple of the Sun (Templo del Sol) at Koricancha was the most sumptuous temple in the Inca Empire. Some 4,000 priests and their attendants once lived within its confines. Koricancha also served as the main astronomical observatory for the Incas.

Dedicated to worship of the sun, the most important deity in the Inca's naturalistic pantheon, the temple complex was a glittering palace straight out of El Dorado legend: Koricancha means "courtyard of gold" in Quechua.

In addition to hundreds of gold panels lining its walls, there were life-size gold figures, solid-gold altars, and a huge golden sun disc. The sun disc reflected the sun and bathed the temple in light. During the summer solstice, the sun still shines directly into a niche where only the Inca chieftain was permitted to sit.

Information above were taken from http://www.sacred-destinations.com/peru/cusco-koricancha.htm

Nikon D200
2008/07/02 12:42:39.3
JPG (8-bit)converted from 12-bit RAW
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Image Comment: Copyright (C) 2008 Andre' Salvador
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