CONVENTO SANTO DOMINGO AND QORICANCHA
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The convent was built above the Qoricancha, the gold district in Quechua, whose temple of the Sun occupied, in the feline configuration of the city, the sex. Embellished by Pachacútec, the temple, from the top of its promontory, dominated a series of terraced gardens whose upper platform served as a foundation for the various temples dedicated to the deities: Sun, Stars, Moon, Rainbow... In the middle stands, mute, a ceremonial fountain made of massive stone. The whole, embedded in the convent, is the most beautiful example of the building skills of the Incas. It is a pity that the church built above it by the conquistadores has somewhat dulled the Inca work. But one cannot but be transported by the sober beauty of the temples of the Sun (Inti), of the Moon (Qilla) and of Venus (Chaska), daughter of the previous ones. The interior of all the temples was covered with gold leaf - silver for that of the Moon - and contained, it is assumed, the mummies of the wives and concubines of the sons of the Sun. The gardens were decorated with gold figurines that the conquistadores hastened to melt into ingots. Built immediately after the conquest, Santo Domingo was destroyed by the earthquakes of 1650 and 1950. It was during the latter earthquake that the fragments of the ancient temples were discovered. Of the church, the baroque bell tower from the 17th century is worth mentioning and, in the cloister, the pinacoteca with its colonial paintings.
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