Encyclopedia of the Incas

holed up in the city; the thatch smoldered for days, and the roof beams
eventually collapsed, further destroying the Inca city.
In Inca times, a layer of coastal sand “two and a half palms” (about 50
centimeters [20 inches]) thick covered the main plaza. Inquiries by Polo
Ondegardo, Cuzco’s chief magistrate, revealed that the sand had been brought
“out of reverence” for Ticsi Viracocha, the creator god linked to the Sun’s daily
journey from Lake Titicaca to the Pacific Ocean. In 1559, Polo ordered the sand
removed after he discovered offerings of gold and silver figurines buried in it.
More recently, excavations in the plaza uncovered not only some of the sand, but
also camelid figurines fashioned in gold, silver, and Spondylus shell, as well as
part of a wall, the probable remains of the plaza’s ushnu platform. Unlike the
monumental stepped ushnus of other Inca settlements, the one in Cuzco’s main
square was a more modest affair, a stone set on a low, stepped platform with a
side basin for receiving libations. At night attendants covered the stone with a
rounded wooden roof.
Several royal compounds surrounded the plaza of Aucaypata. A large terrace
containing one or two large halls dominated the plaza’s northeast side, today the
site of the city’s cathedral. One hall was converted into the Triunfo church, built
to commemorate the apparition of the Virgin Mary, who was said to have
materialized miraculously to extinguish the fires sparked by Manco Inca’s
incendiary sling stones. Any other constructions on the Aucaypata terrace were
destroyed when construction began in 1559 on the cathedral, which also
encroached onto the plaza itself. On the plaza’s southeast corner stood the Hatun
Cancha, the “great” or “large enclosure,” entered by a single gateway facing the
plaza. The city’s largest compound, enclosing 5 hectares/about 12 acres, was the
seat of the Acllahuasi, the “house of the chosen women” who attended Cuzco’s
religious shrines, served as custodians of the royal mummies, wove fine cloth,
and brewed chicha beer for ceremonial consumption (see Acllacuna). The
women worked in a building of many small cells located off a narrow alleyway;
storage bins held the maize used to brew the chicha. Across from the Hatun
Cancha, separated by one of the few extant Inca streets, stood the Amaru Cancha
(Enclosure of the Serpent). Today occupied by the Jesuit Compañía church, in
antiquity it contained a large hall, which functioned as a temporary shelter that
was perhaps used by celebrants attending Cuzco’s ceremonies, or (as
archaeology has demonstrated in other places) as a public place for feasting. It is
not known to whom this compound belonged, although some chronicles claim it
was the town palace of Huascar.