Other sights in Cuzco
- Sort by:
- Popular
-
Cusco Planetarium
Cusco Planetarium is a nifty way to learn more about the Inca worldview. It was the only culture in the world to define constellations of darkness as well as light, and studied astronomy seriously: some of Cuzco’s main streets are designed to align with the stars at certain times of year. Recommended before you go on a trek – you’ll feel clever pointing out the Black Llama to your fellow hikers. Reservations essential; price varies with group size, and includes pickup and drop-off.
reviewed
-
A
Qorikancha
If you visit only one site in Cuzco, make it these Inca ruins, which form the base of the colonial church and convent of Santo Domingo. Qorikancha was once the richest temple in the Inca empire; all that remains today is the 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 2kg. 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…
reviewed
-
B
Museo Irq’i Yachay
More an art and craft exhibition than a museum, Museo Irq’i Yachay is the fascinating by-product of an NGO that seeks to give opportunities for cognitive development to kids in remote communities. Of course, the most isolated and neglected communities are the ones in which traditional culture is best preserved, and the result is an engrossing and unique insight into Andean culture. The kids paint what they know – animals, mountains, rivers, people – and incorporate the symbols of the weavings that surround them from birth: north is hope and future, red is love and revenge. Along with the art itself, there’s an impressive display of textiles. Accompanying interpretive in…
reviewed
-
C
Museo de Arte Precolombino
Inside a Spanish colonial mansion with an Inca ceremonial courtyard, this dramatically curated pre-Columbian art museum showcases a stunningly varied, if selectively small, collection of archaeological artifacts previously buried in the vast storerooms of Lima’s Museo Larco. Dating from between 1250 BC to AD 1532, the artifacts show off the artistic and cultural achievements of many of Peru’s ancient cultures, with exhibits labeled in Spanish, English and French. Highlights include the Nazca and Moche galleries of multi-colored ceramics, queros (ceremonial Inca wooden drinking vessels) and dazzling displays of jewelry made with intricate gold and silverwork.
reviewed
-
Cathedral
Started in 1559 and taking almost a hundred years to build, the cathedral squats on the site of Viracocha Inca’s palace and was built using blocks pilfered from the nearby Inca site of Sacsaywamán. The cathedral is joined with Iglesia del Triunfo (1536) to its right and Iglesia de Jesús María (1733) to the left. El Triunfo, Cuzco’s oldest church, houses a vault containing the remains of the famous Inca chronicler Garcilaso de la Vega, who was born in Cuzco in 1539 and died in Córdoba, Spain, in 1616. His remains were returned in 1978 by King Juan Carlos of Spain. )
reviewed
-
D
Iglesia de San Blas
This simple adobe church is comparatively small, but you can’t help but be awed by the baroque, gold-leaf principal altar. The exquisitely carved pulpit, made from a single tree trunk, has been called the finest example of colonial wood carving in the Americas.
Legend claims that its creator was an indigenous man who miraculously recovered from a deadly disease and subsequently dedicated his life to carving this pulpit for the church. Supposedly, his skull is nestled in the topmost part of the carving. In reality, no one is certain of the identity of either the skull or the woodcarver.
reviewed
-
E
Museo Histórico Regional
This eclectic museum is housed in the colonial Casa Garcilaso de la Vega, the house of the Inca-Spanish chronicler who now lies buried. The chronologically arranged collection begins with arrowheads from the Preceramic Period and continues with ceramics and jewelry of the Wari, Pukara and Inca cultures. There is also a Nazca mummy, a few Inca weavings, some small gold ornaments and a strangely sinister scale model of the Plaza de Armas. A big, helpful chart in the courtyard outlines the timeline and characters of the escuela cuzqueña.
reviewed
-
F
Museo de Arte Popular
Winning entries in Cuzco’s annual Popular Art competition are displayed in this engaging museum. This is where the artisans and artists of San Blas strut their creative stuff in styles ranging from high art to cheeky cute, offering a fascinating, humorous take on ordinary life amid the pomp and circumstance of a once-grandiose culture. Small-scale ceramic models depict drunken debauchery in the picantería (local restaurant), torture in the dentist’s chair, carnage in the butcher shop, and even a caesarean section.
reviewed
-
G
Museo de Arte Religioso
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. The beautiful mansion is now 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 are also some impressive ceilings and colonial-style tile work, though this is not original, having been replaced during the 1940s.
reviewed
-
H
Iglesia y Monasterio de Santa Catalina
This convent houses many colonial paintings of the escuela cuzqueña, as well as an impressive collection of vestments and other embroidery (definitely a must-see for embroidery fans). It also contains a baroque side chapel with dramatic friezes, and many life-sized (and sometimes startling) models of nuns praying, sewing and going about their lives. The convent also houses 13 real, live contemplative nuns.
reviewed
Advertisement
-
I
Museo Municipal de Arte Contemporáneo
The small collection of contemporary Andean art on display at this museum in the municipality building is really one for the fans.
Museo Quijote has a good collection, putting a representative range of Peru’s contemporary artists on show, with interpretive information that puts art in context with history.
reviewed
-
J
Museo Quijote
This privately owned museum of contemporary art houses a diverse, thoughtful collection of painting and sculpture ranging from the folksy to the macabre. There’s good interpretive information about 20th-century Peruvian art history, some of it translated into English.
reviewed
-
K
Museo de Historia Natural
The university-run natural history museum houses a somewhat motley collection of stuffed local animals and birds and over 150 snakes from the Amazon. The entrance is hidden off the Plaza de Armas, to the right of Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús.
reviewed
-
L
Museo del Sitio de Qorikancha
There are sundry moth-bitten archaeological displays interpreting Inca and pre-Inca cultures at this small, mangy, underground archaeological museum, which is entered off Av El Sol.
reviewed
-
M
Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús
This church is built upon the palace of Huayna Cápac, the last Inca to rule an undivided, unconquered empire.
reviewed
