Inca Architecture at Machu Picchu

Inca Architecture at Machu Picchu

When referring to Inca architecture, most people immediately envision the more famous ruins, such as those near Cuzco and at Machu Picchu. Although at its height the Inca Empire covered the length of the Andes from what is now Ecuador into present-day Chile, a distance of more than 5500 km (3,000 mi), it is important to note that the term ‘Inca’ refers only to a small group of less than 40,000 individuals, who built their empire by force and who ruled as the realm’s governing nobility. At the height of the empire prior to the Spanish conquest in 1532, somewhere between ten and twenty million people of many different ethnic groups were ruled by the Incas, and these groups had their own distinct architectural styles.

Machu Picchu fascinates us today due to its remote, mysterious location and the seemingly impossible construction of such a large city at that altitude. For some buildings, enormous pieces of stone were transported over mountain terrain and fitted together with precision, in what is called cyclopean masonry. Some walls contain stones weighing many tons which fit so exactly that no mortar was necessary.

Although some have questioned the ability of the Inca to perform such construction with the technology available at the time, even suggesting some extraterrestrial influence, discovery of naturally occurring granite formations in the area which mimic the Inca technique suggests they used such formations to construct their buildings and fortresses. Transporting the stones was still a formidable task, however.

“… discoveries throughout the Cordillera de Vilcabamba have shown that Machu Picchu was one of a series of pucaras (fortified sites), tambos (travelers’ barracks, or inns), and signal towers along the extensive Inca foot highway.

The dwellings at Machu Picchu were probably built and occupied from the mid-15^th to the early or mid-16^th century, although the site’s use as either a fortress, city, or palace is uncertain. Some researchers believe that its water supply was insufficient to support a large population during periods of low rainfall. Machu Picchu’s construction style and other evidence suggest that it was a palace complex of the ruler Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui (reigned c. 1438-71). Several dozen skeletons were excavated there in 1912, and, because most of those were identified initially (though not conclusively) as female, Bingham suggested that Machu Picchu was a sanctuary for the Virgins of the Sun (the Chosen Women), an elite Inca group. The reason for the site’s abandonment is also unknown, but lack of water may have been a factor. The high level of preservation and the general layout of the ruin are remarkable. Its southern, eastern, and western portions are surrounded by dozens of stepped agricultural terraces formerly watered by an aqueduct system. Some of those terraces were still being used by local Indians when Bingham arrived in 1911. Walkways and thousands of steps, consisting of stone blocks as well as footholds carved into underlying rock, connect the plazas, the residential areas, the terraces, the cemetery, and the major buildings. The Main Plaza, partly divided by wide terraces, is at the north-central end of the site. At the southeastern end is the only formal entrance, which leads to the Inca highway. Few of Machu Picchu’s white granite structures have stonework as highly refined as that found in Cuzco, but several are worthy of note. In the southern part of the ruin is the Sacred Rock, also known as the Temple of the Sun (it was called the Mausoleum by Bingham); it centers on an inclined rock mass with a small grotto; walls of cut stone fill in some of its irregular features. Rising above the rock is the horseshoe-shaped enclosure known as the Military Tower. In the western part of Machu Picchu is the temple district, also known as the Acropolis. The Temple of the Three Windows is a hall 35 feet (10.6 meters) long and 14 feet (4.2 meters) wide with three trapezoidal windows (the largest known in Inca architecture) on one wall, which is built of polygonal stones.

It stands near the southwestern corner of the Main Plaza. Also near the Main Plaza is the Intihuatana (Hitching Post of the Sun), a ceremonial sundial consisting of a wide pillar and pedestal that were carved as a single unit and stand 6 feet (1.8 meters) tall. The Princess’s Palace is a bi-level structure of highly crafted stonework that probably housed a member of the Inca nobility. The Palace of the Inca is a complex of rooms with niched walls and a courtyard. There are also ruins atop the dark peak of Huayna Picchu, which is accessible by a lengthy, precipitous stairway and trail. At the other end of Machu Picchu, another path leads to the famous Inca Bridge, a rope structure that crosses the Urubamba River.” ¹