shrine complex destroyed in 1570, tearing down the buildings, scattering the
stones, and setting fire to the thick thatch roofs.
Manco’s Vilcabamba, on the other hand, is quite distinct from Vitcos. While
typically Inca in layout, and featuring many of the hallmarks of Inca
architecture and town planning—a callanca (a long, rectangular building), an
uncarved boulder fronting a plaza, fountains and plazas—its setting in lush,
lowland rainforest is unusual. Especially curious are the Spanish-style roofing
tiles scattered among the ruins, attesting to the postconquest date of
Vilcabamba’s construction.
Yurac Rumi, the sacred rock at Vitcos in the Inca province of Vilcabamba. Adriana
von Hagen.From the top of Vilcabamba’s ceremonial entryway a long, narrow staircase
descended into the city, “Half a league wide . . . and a huge distance in length,”
according to Spanish eyewitnesses who saw it in 1572. They noted 400 houses
as well as fields planted with coca, sugarcane (an introduced crop), manioc,
sweet potatoes, and cotton. The houses were roofed in thatch, while the ruler’s
residence was covered in roof tiles. “The town had a square large enough to hold