Quri Kancha

Quri Kancha, meaning golden temple in Cusco Quechua, was the foremost sanctuary of the Inca Empire and the principal shrine of Inti, the sun god and divine ancestor of the Inca dynasty, at the heart of Cusco.

The emperor Pachakuti rebuilt it in the fifteenth century, facing its curved walls with gold and filling its courtyard with golden statues and life-size golden plants. The mummies of seven Incas sat on a golden bench attended by the cloistered Mama-cunas. Its precisely cut stone blocks were fitted without mortar.

When the Spanish held Atahualpa for ransom in 1533, much of the gold they demanded came from Quri Kancha. The conquerors demolished the temple and raised the Church and Convent of Santo Domingo on its foundations, rebuilt after the earthquake of 1650. The Inca stonework survived while the colonial building above it cracked.