Encyclopedia of the Incas

libation shrines. Ushnus could be located in the middle or to the side of a plaza,
or commonly at the top of a platform or a stepped pyramid. In provincial
administrative centers such as Huánuco Pampa or Pumpu, these plazas formed
the core of the complex. The palaces and royal estates identified by the
chroniclers included plazas and religious buildings, as is the case of Machu
Picchu, said to have been a royal estate of the Inca Pachacuti.
Thus, the spaces devoted to worship and the types of architecture are so varied
that they defy classification into rigid formal types. Moreover, non-Inca deities
and their places of worship were incorporated into the official imperial religion.
This implies the adoption of architectural forms and techniques that differ from
those of the Inca, particularly on the central and north coast.
The architecture of residential or administrative buildings is remarkably
similar to that of religious structures. Just to cite one example, the Coricancha,
Cuzco’s Sun temple, was considered the symbolic center of Cuzco, and therefore
of the empire. It was not only regarded as the principal Sun temple, but the
rulers’ ancestors were venerated there as well as the empire’s leading deities. Its
singular role, however, was not reflected in its architectural layout, which is
formally indistinguishable from the other cancha enclosures (see Architecture;
Cuzco; Planning, Settlement) that formed part of the capital’s urban core. Most
chroniclers described these cancha compounds as royal palaces, yet they also
served other purposes, such as meeting places for the panacas. Nevertheless, the
Coricancha was clearly different from, and more elaborate and formal than, other
canchas, with its fine stonework, double-jambed doorways, finely finished
interior niches, and as the chroniclers recorded, gold plaques decorating some of
its walls. It also had a unique curved retaining wall and a garden filled with life-
sized plants made of precious metals.
The two solar temples that follow it in importance, Pachacamac on Peru’s
central coast and the shrine on the Island of the Sun in Lake Titicaca, are
nothing like the Coricancha in design. In both cases, a gateway opened onto a
long road that connected plazas and ceremonial spaces with features that recalled
the sacred landscape. At Pachacamac the Incas transformed a hill into a stepped
pyramid overlooking the Pacific Ocean and a lagoon, while on the Island of the
Sun the Incas carved imposing rocks along the shores of Lake Titicaca.
Architecture related to other great religious shrines and pilgrimage sites such as
the mountain peaks of Catequil, Pariacaca, or Coropuna seems rather modest by
comparison. Nevertheless, they provided a suitable setting for ritual activities on
their slopes and along the routes to their summits.