10/27: Cusco, Peru: Mendivil, Mummies, Religious Art & Qorikancha

We walked a few blocks up to the San Blas neighborhood of Cusco as the price per kilo of laundry was half what it was compared to near our hotel. It was worth walking up the steep alleys for that! Often, we wash out our t-shirts and underwear in the bathroom sink and hang them up to dry over the heater by the room’s ceiling thanks to Steven’s standing precariously on the edge of the bed and hooking the wet items on plastic hangers on the vent. I always worry that Steven is going to fall off the bed and break a foot or arm when he performs this gymnastics feat! For the first time ever, though, there was a sign in the room that said guests would be fined a whopping $50 for doing any washing in the sink.

A few more blocks took us to the fruit and vegetable market of the same name. 

A fellow knitter:

There were potatoes galore at the market – after all, we were in the land of potatoes where there were something like 2,000 varieties of the spud. This was definitely the first time, though, we’d seen peeled potatoes for sale anywhere. 

Alexander: You and Alex would have felt right at home at the stands offering vegetarian and vegan foods! 

Steven and I looked at each other and agreed it doesn’t get much prettier than this Plazoleta de San Blas or small square. Of course, being there on a weekend meant that there were artisans selling all manner of things - yeah!

I began admiring intricately carved gourds about ten years ago when we visited the large handicraft community of Berea, Kentucky. Often they tell a long story depending on the carvers' talents. 

We stopped in at the Hilario Mendivil Museum on the square to look at the unusual sculptures by San Blas’s favorite son. Mendivil was a famous 20th century Peruvian religious artist. 

Legend has it that Mendivil saw llamas parading in the Corpus Christi procession as a child and later incorporated this image into his religious art, depicting all his figures with long, llama-like necks.

The artist:

The artist’s trademark were the maguey-wood sculptures and the rice-plaster sculptures of the Virgin with the elongated necks.

We spent some time walking around the square, home to several artisan families who have operated in the square for decades. 

Mary Pat: Whenever I see a 'Keep Calm ... ' I think of you. Wasn't this one cute?!

After looking at Cusco-school religious paintings and other objects for sale by artisans, we entered the adobe Templo San Blas located on the plaza. It is considered to have one of the jewels of colonial art in the Americas – the pulpit of San Blas, an intricately carved 17th century cedar pulpit, arguably Latin America’s most ornate. 

It was once believed the work was carved from a single tree trunk, but experts now believe it was assembled from 1,200 individually carved pieces. I overheard a guide say it took twenty years to carve the Andean fruits in the pulpit because of all the exquisite detail! Figures of Martin Luther, John Calvin and Henry VIII – all opponents of Catholicism - as well as those representing the seven deadly sins were 'condemned for eternity to hold up the pulpit’s base.’ The work was dominated by the triumphant figure of Christ. At his feet was a real human skull thought to belong to belong to Juan Tomas Tuyrutupac, the creator of the pulpit!

The church was built because money was donated by benefactors who wanted the frescoes covered. 

The gold-covered baroque-style altar:

The 17th century archangel was made of papier-mache and was apparently very light.

The ceiling was decorated only in the entryway for some reason. The rest was very plain.

The view of the square from the bell tower:

Located high in the Andes, Cusco is a truly remarkable and beautiful city. Formerly the capital of the Inca, the Spanish transformed it into its present colonial form following their arrival in 1534.  Due to its high and impractical location at over 11,00 feet, Cusco avoided modern industrialization and has retained its colonial charm – especially around the Plaza De Armas, where the Spanish dismantled the Incan temples and palaces and built cathedrals and palatial mansions in their place. 

Through an open doorway, we could see this massive clay sculpture.

All the way up at the top of the hill overlooking Cusco was where we hoped Iglesia San Cristobal was as we sure didn’t want to retrace our steps needlessly!

The pretty, bright blue doors and balconies reminded us of those we'd seen the previous day in Maras.

There was no need for a lawnmower when you have alpacas to do your work at the church!

Another lovely view overlooking Cusco from San Iglesia Church Plaza:

The mirrors were an unusual feature in the church.

We climbed to the top of the bell tower where we had marvelous views of Cusco's main square or Plaza de Armas, and the city:

The plaza in front of the church:

Steven took one look from the bell tower of the Christ statue in the distance and said surely, we weren’t going to be hiking up there? I reassured him we wouldn’t be. Little did either of us realize then we would actually be seeing it again very soon!

In front of the College of San Fernando de Borja that dated from 1621 was a fountain.

The Inka Museum was housed in one of the most remarkable colonial houses of Cusco, an old 17th century building called Casa del Almirante, the former home of Spanish Admiral Francisco Alderete Moldonado. He built his Cusco palace over Inca ruins. The museum was operated by the San Antonio Abad University of Cusco which restored the building after the earthquake of 1950.

Some of the museum's artifacts were found and excavated on historical sites in Cusco or close to Cusco; others were found in regions far away. 

The Nazca pre-Inca culture had its origins 400 years before Christ. Their culture created fine ceramics using 11 colors where they painted geometric, zoomorphic and anthropomorphic representations. If we had had more time this trip, we would have delighted in seeing the famous Nazca Lines, a group of pre-Columbian geoglyphs etched into desert sands that cover an area of nearly 1,000 square kilometers in SW Peru. The Lines include about 300 different figures, some of which measure 30 meters wide and stretch more than 9 kilometers. The figures are most visible from the air or nearby hilltops!

The Nazca continued worshiping Andean gods like condors, felines and snakes that they had inherited from the Chavin culture. A hallmark of the Nazca culture was their use of geometric lines in all ceramics.

More exciting than the pottery and other displays was seeing this young school group in native dress who was also touring the museum. I think they almost looked with the same amount of fascination at me and other tourists in the museum as I did them seeing how differently we were dressed!

The Mochica was a pre-Inca settlement that developed in NW Peru in 100 BC. The people were considered good navigators of the Pacific Ocean and used reed boats on their trips and when fishing. 

Their ceramics included painted scenes of their daily culture, geometric forms and zoomorphy normally in only red and cream colors.

The absence of nearby rock quarries forced them to use the clay soil to make dry mud bricks to build their religious and administrative buildings and houses.

The Pukara-style Monolith was carved in sandstone and is today worshiped as a divinity.

One of the more unusual directional signs, wouldn't you agree?!

The magnificent textiles for sale by a cooperative in the atrium were absolutely out of this world. The prices for the larger pieces - some of which were close to two thousand dollars - were too! 

I didn't realize until we toured the Inca Museum that the concentric terraces at Moray, which we'd just visited the previous day, was a meeting place for rural people from nearby communities who celebrate the modern Moray Raymi or Moray Celebration to worship Mother Earth and to celebrate the beginning of the traditional agrarian activities.

A cave painting from 5000 BC in the Turreni area settled by a pastoral and agricultural group.

Cave painting from 2000 BC:

As the Inca economy was based on agriculture, the cultivation of maize and potatoes was very important. Potatoes were and still are the staple food for people in the Andes. Most production is done with a hand hoe digging stick.

These were examples of Domestic Ceramics, dishes for everyday use by the Incas. They were determined to be domestic by the surface finishing clay consistency. There were no physical remains of possible cooking devices but documents from the 17th century indicate a clay oven was used.

There were many old images of Machu Picchu before its excavation and clean up from 1912, taken by Hiram Bingham, As I mentioned in a previous post, Bingham made public the existence of the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu on July 24th, 1911, with the guidance of a local indigenous farmer and a boy.  

These 16th century metal and wood keros ceremonial Inca wooden drinking vessels were reserved for use by Inca nobility and the clergy. These were part of the world’s largest collection of ceremonial cups!

Aqolla, the Chosen Woman, was painted on these keros. 

The House of the Ancestors containing skulls in a tomb-like room with real Inca mummies was gruesome! The Incas sacrificed children and adults to the gods, along with food and other possessions. Nine skulls presented in glass cases revealed an ancient Inca medical practice known as trepanning where Inca doctors removed parts of patients’ skulls if they suffered from any sort of cranium deformities. I figured you likely wouldn't want to see the display!

These mummified bodies were still in really great condition and really showed how the sacrificed passed away. There were about eight bodies including two children and an animal sacrifice.

This lovely 17th century vessel included molded feline images and paintings of serpents.

We were able to remotely rotate the vessel to see the serpent in the front and the back of the vessel - something no other museum we've seen had had.

It was interesting to read that the Incas of the 17th and 18th centuries created the culture of anti-colonial resistance in the art they painted on the keros. They included themes relating to the history of the Incas to conserve the memory of their past glory.

The same keros but closer up to show the exquisite detail:

The paintings depicted Inca rulers.

Downstairs in the sunny courtyard, highland Andean weavers demonstrated their craft and sold traditional textiles directly to the public.

The restored interior of the Inca Museum was informative, interesting and gave us a good insight into how the Inca people lived, worked the land and survived and adapted with the Spanish invasion. 

A very narrow street and sidewalk so common to the Centro Historico in Cusco:

The Plazoleta Nazarenas, a pretty little square just a block from the main Plaza de Armas, was surrounded by some of the best and most exclusive hotels in Cusco.

The 400-year old Seminario San Antonio Abad was converted into the Hotel Monasterio, Cusco’s first five-star hotel. Its courtyard, open to guests and gawkers like us, was positively enchanting!

A real highlight for both of us was seeing Andean women working and selling their stunning textiles in the hotel's courtyard.

The prices were more expensive than in other shops in Cucso but it was worth supporting the local weavers. When we travel, we always try and buy directly from local crafters where possible.

Who would ever want to place a cigarette butt into this ashtray?!

Just a block downhill was the Museo de Arte Religioso also known as the Palacio Arzobispal. Originally the palace of Inca Roca, the foundations of this museum were converted into a grand colonial residence and later became the archbishop’s palace. 

Elegant cloisters contained a small museum.

A cleric in mediation in the courtyard:

There were also some impressive ceilings and colonial-style tile work that was replaced during the 1940s.

I loved the shot of Steven walking side by side with one of the priests!

The magnificent chapel had stained glass windows that began at the floor which we had never seen before.

The beautiful mansion was home to a religious art collection notable for the accuracy of its period detail, and especially its insight into the interaction of indigenous peoples with the Spanish conquistadors.There was room after room of paintings!

In this primary repository of religious art in the city, many of the paintings in the collection were anonymous, but some were by the renowned indigenous artist Marcos Zapata. A highlight was a series of 17th-century paintings that depict the city's Corpus Christi procession. 

Religious music was piped into each room which added tremendously to our enjoyment of the museum.

We and so many other tourists next spent time walking up and down a narrow street looking for a famous, 12-sided, Inca stone that was remarkable as its sides fitted perfectly to the neighboring stones. We spent some time admiring the amazing craftsmanship, counting the sides of stonework and watched as others tried to slip a paper between the cracks of these ancient walls. 

At last we arrived at the Plaza de Armas, Cusco's central square and the heart of the city in terms of both architecture and tourism. It was framed by elegant colonial stone arcades and was dominated by not one but two stunning churches, the Catedral de Cusco and the Jesuit Iglesia de la Compania, respectively below. 

The square was a lively place with plenty of locals sitting together, attending church and also regular religious and patriotic celebrations.

According to belief, the square was the exact center of the Inca empire, Tawantinsuyo, the Four Corners of the Earth.

A statue of Pachacutec, known as the Inca emperor who built Machu Picchu, was in the center, gesturing in the direction of the old Inca fortress Sacsayhuaman, a site we later visited.

Cusco’s baroque cathedral sat between the more recent Iglesia de Jesus Maria from 1733 and the Iglesia del Triunfo from 1539. Once we entered one, we could simply walk to the next from the inside as they were all joined together. A view of the three religious institutions:

The cathedral was built on top of a Inca palace using blocks of red granite taken from nearby Sacsayhuaman and took more than a century to construct, from 1560 onward. At least four earthquakes from 1650 to 1986, along with damp and neglect, took a serious toll on the building. A complete renovation from 1997-2002 removed much of the grime that had covered chapels and paintings over time.

No photos were unfortunately allowed of its interior and guards strictly enforced the policy. I should know! That was why there are fewer than the normal number of photos and some are less clear.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take photos of a painting of the Virgin Mary wearing a mountain-shaped skirt identifying her with the Inca Pachamama or Mother Earth; an original gold-covered Renaissance altar; and the huge 1659 Maria Angola bell, one of the largest bells in the world that was over two meters high and made with 27 kilos of gold and reportedly heard from a distance of 30 kms!

In the fascinating depiction of the Last Supper by the indigenous artist Marcos Zapata, instead of the Paschal lamb, the artist drew an image of a wild chinchilla because, in Andean theology, it was the guardian of the lakes and sacred mountains. Judas was portrayed as having darker skin and representing a heretic monk. In the upper corner of the painting was the star of Bethlehem and an image of the Crucifixion.

In the Silver Chapel were items dating from 1712. 

The Cathedral then led directly into the Iglesia del Triunfo, the first Christian church in Cusco which was built to celebrate the victory over Manco Inca, an Inca prince and later a puppet ruler of the Inca Empire under the Spanish.

We had planned on seeing the 17th century Iglesia de la Compania on the square next but there was a hefty fee for it and the nearby Museo de Arte y Monasterio de Santa Catalina so we decided not to tour them after all. The church was built on top of another Inca palace by the Jesuits who were expelled from Latin America in 1767 but not before they built a series of churches in Peru's principal cities and in Ecuador's capital.

The interior courtyard was all we saw of the monastery. I think we were a little 'churched out' at that point, too!

One of the interesting things about our stay in Cusco was being stopped pretty regularly by men wanting us to look at and buy their drawings and paintings. It had first happened when we were in the San Blas area first thing that morning but continued later in the historical area of the city.

As I mentioned in the previous post, the rainbow flag was a constant fixture around the city.

Having spent already so much time at the Inca Museum, we opted to forego the Museo Machu Picchu even though it would have been interesting to view the hundreds of artifacts that had been returned to Peru from Yale.

In the Iglesia Santo Domingo, there were signs on every pew forbidding people to recline. I wonder if the church had an issue with homeless people using the church to sleep?

Its lovely altar:

Some of the church's beautiful chapels that adorned each aisle:

Qorikancha, the most important Inca ruins in Cusco, formed the base of the colonial church and convent of Santo Domingo we had just seen. Qorikancha was once the richest temple in the Inca empire but all that remained was masterful stonework.

In Inca times, Qorikancha, Quechua for ‘Golden Courtyard’, was literally covered with gold. The temple walls were lined with some 700 solid-gold sheets, each weighing about two kilos. There were life-sized gold and silver replicas of corn, which were ceremonially ‘planted’ in agricultural rituals. Also reported were solid-gold treasures such as altars, llamas and babies, as well as a replica of the sun, which was lost. But, within months of the arrival of the first conquistadors, this incredible wealth had all been looted and melted down.

The temple was built in the mid-15th century during the reign of the 10th Inca. After the Spanish conquest, Francisco Pizarro gave it to his brother Juan, but he was not able to enjoy it for long as he died in the battle at Sacsaywamán in 1536. In his will, he bequeathed Qorikancha to the Dominicans, in whose possession it has remained ever since. 

In the center of the complex had been a giant, gold disc that was positioned to reflect the sun and bathe the temple in light. 

Colonial paintings around the outside of the courtyard depict the life of St Dominic, which contain several representations of dogs holding torches in their jaws. These are God’s guard dogs (dominicanus in Latin), hence the name of this religious order.

These pieces of andesite, diorite and limestone were architectural elements found in the complex. Used in the construction of walls, water canals and ceremonial niches, they demonstrated the stone workers' technology and workmanship.

The gorgeous ceiling:

As I've written in previous posts, the Catholic Church employed visual arts to convey religious ideas and to narrate the Bible and the Gospel to the indigenous people after the Spanish conquest in Peru. For the common people, most of whom were illiterate, images were frequently more understandable than words.

Intricately carved choir stalls:

It was amazing to contemplate that terraces that faced the courtyard were once filled with life-size gold and silver statues of plants and animals!

As we walked around the upper level, there was a rather bizarre modern sculpture exhibition that seemed to be totally out of place with the rest of the complex.

We read that the deities venerated in Qorikancka were personified celestial bodies and meteorological phenomena. The painting by the Cusco artist showed the Milky Way over Cusco in the months of July and August when the sky is clear and most of the astronomical phenomena venerated by the Inca can be easily observed. 

In the Andes, the Milky Way is called 'mayu' or celestial river. Unlike the Western constellation composed of groups of stars, the Andean culture distinguishes dark spots against the light background of the Milky Way and identifies them with silhouettes of animals that have come to drink its waters and darken its shining with their shadows.

These walls on the eastern side of the ruins were 60 meters long and 5 meters high and each block was perfectly interlocked with its neighbor.

One of the most intriguing works of art was this Inca gold masterpiece with a variety of Inca symbols. We were fortunate there were translations or interpretations as otherwise we would have missed so much!

The rainbow was an emblem of the Inca dynasty as it appeared when the first Inca people arrived in the Cusco valley and decided to name it as the capital city. Even though a rainbow in the sky was considered to be a good omen, it was also believed to cause certain diseases.

The man and woman in the center were dressed according to Inca tradition and possibly represented the emperor and his wife.

This symbol was the mallki in Quechua or 'mummy of an ancestor'. In Inca times, the tree was venerated as ancestors going back to when the first Inca ruler established a cult to his parents symbolized by two trees.

The squares at the bottom of the image represented the 'place of granaries' or 'terrace of granaries'.

Perhaps I was too tired seeing Qorikancha at the end of the day after touring so many other places in Cusco but I found the site to be a bizarre combination of Inca and colonial architecture and I just couldn't wrap my head around the combination of the colonial art, the modern art, the Milky Way paintings, the choir stalls, etc.

Next post: A Hike among Ruins.

Posted on January 10th, 2018, from Littleton, Colorado.