Plaza de Armas Historic Heart

The Plaza de Armas in Cusco sits on the exact ground where the Inca Empire held its most sacred ceremonies. Its defining feature is the uniform, stone-arched colonial portico that rings the square, blending Spanish architecture with the…

The Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin sits on the foundations of the Suntur Wasi, once the palace of the Inca ruler Wiracocha. Its thick, dark stone walls incorporate massive blocks of andesite hauled from the nearby Sacsayhuaman…

The Templo del Triunfo stands with thick, rough-hewn stone walls that contrast sharply against the lighter, colonial plasterwork above. This church holds the site where the Spanish conquistadors survived an Inca siege in fifteen…

The Twelve Angled Stone is a massive block of dark green diorite, fitted perfectly into a wall on Hatun Rumiyoc Street. Each of its twelve sides meets the adjacent stones so tightly that a razor blade cannot slide between them. This stone…

The Kusicancha stands as a complex of long, narrow stone rooms arranged around a central open courtyard. This enclosure served as the primary residence and storage space for the family of Pachacuti, the Inca emperor who transformed Cusco…

Calle Loreto is a narrow stone corridor defined by the thick, perfectly fitted volcanic walls of the Inca era on one side and the smooth, colonial masonry of the House of the Chosen Women on the other. It was once the Inti K'ijllu, or Sun…

The Church of the Society of Jesus anchors the main plaza of Cusco with a facade carved entirely from volcanic stone. This structure sits directly upon the foundations of the Amarucancha, the palace of the Inca ruler Huayna Capac. When the…