CUZCO
Cuzco was the homeland, capital and religious centre of the Inca empire. Pedro Sancho, one of the first Spaniards to enter the city, described it as “where the lords of this land have their residence; it is so large and so beautiful that it would be worthy of admiration even in Spain; and it is full of the palaces of the lords, because no poor people live there.”
In order to construct the city, the Inca had to drain a swampy area, convert two rivers into canals, and terrace the steep slopes of the valley to provide platforms for buildings. Between the waterways, the narrow streets formed roughly quadrangular blocks with walled enclosures for elite housing.
At its heart was a main plaza with the Saphy River running between it, which was considered to be the meeting point of the four great roads and four quarters of the empire. Most buildings were made using rectangular andesite blocks prepared at quarries around 20 miles away. The terraces were constructed from limestone blocks, each one carved in individual polygonal shapes so that they fitted precisely with neighbouring stones. The roofs were thickly thatched.
The city had been conceived to resemble the shape of a puma: the Sacsayhuamán () was the head; the plaza the belly; the rivers formed the outline of the body; and where they met was the tail. At the point where
