Cusco - Sacsayhuaman Ruins

Incan fortress/citadel built in the 15th C with HUGE stones. WAY up above Cusco, overlooking the city. Very impressive when you think what it took to move the stones way up there. Pachacuti "ordered 20,000 men sent in from the provinces" and that "4000 of them quarried and cut the stones; 6000 hauled them with great cables of leather and hemp; the others dug the dig and laid the foundations, while still others cut poles and beams for the timbers." The large plaza, capable of holding thousands of people, was designed for communal ceremonial activities. The stones used in the construction of these terraces are among the largest used in any building in pre-Hispanic America. In some spaces you can't even fit a sheet of paper between them. It was a fortress in 1533 during the Spanish conquest.Read more