Coricancha: Temple of the Sun, Chacana and Inca Gods
The Coricancha is not just a thing of the past: it lives on today in the Santo Domingo temple. There you will find the plaque of Pachacútec Yupanqui, a nod to the Andean world. If you visit, you will be amazed by the precision of its walls and the view; you will leave with your heart on fire. Likewise, the Coricancha esplanade is the setting for the Inti Raymi festival, as this space is also an important element of the celebration. Similarly, we should be aware that Coricancha represents a union between the colonial and the Inca, visible throughout the complex.
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Origin of the name, designations and location
Corichancha comes from a Quechua etymology in which qori/kori means “gold” and cancha/kancha means “enclosure” or “temple”; therefore, it is understood to mean “golden enclosure”. It was also known as Intikancha. The ninth Inca, Pachacútec (Pachacuti) Yupanqui, changed it to its current name, Qoricancha, and established it as the Temple of the Sun, associated with the sun god. It is located on Avenida El Sol and Calle Santo Domingo in Cusco, and its structure has enormous walls that fit together perfectly. It is said that it was covered above and below with gold plates and planks; in the 16th century, it was called the high altar.
Stories, sacred plants and colonial episodes
According to Garcilaso, there were also gold reproductions of animals and plants from Tahuantinsuyo, ‘fertilised’ by the rays of the sun god during winter (solstice) from the curved wall, which represented the testicle of the city of the puma. Likewise, the Qoricancha occupied the tail of the puma. Inside the Temple of the Sun was a plaque placed there by the Inca Pachacuti Yupanqui. The huillac umu lived in the temple, and when the Spanish discovered it in 1534, one Spaniard was stunned by what he saw. He encountered a hullac uma who told him that if he wanted to enter this sacred temple, he must remove his shoes out of respect. The Spaniard ignored him and entered as if nothing had happened, facing what he saw in this temple.
Punchau, Saint Dominic, and the cosmogonic plaque
The god Punchau was worshipped. He was as tall as a ten-year-old child and was always taken out to be worshipped: in the mornings he was left outside, and in the afternoons he was taken to the square and then brought back again; at night he slept accompanied by the ñustas in a shed. Likewise, in 1538, the temple of Santo Domingo was built on top of the Temple of the Sun; this temple was ‘built by the solar drum’ (traditional mention). The plaque of Pachacuti Yupanqui is one of the possessions that remained on the main altar and is considered an Andean cosmogonic order, as it has several figures related to the Ukhupacha (world below), the Hananpacha (world above), the outside world and the Kaypacha (world of now); for this reason, it has several symbols.
Symbols of the temple: chacana, dualities and meanings
In the Sun Temple, there was a gold plate on the main altar depicting the chacana; this appears in the petroglyph of Cumbemayo, 20 km away. This drawing is an instrument of measurement and calculation; likewise, the chacana not only signifies stars joined by lines, but chacana is also cuz (bridge, transfer). It is formed by two lines: the vertical line corresponds to man, that is, to everything masculine in the Andean conception; it represents creation, spirit, inheritance and succession. The horizontal line corresponds to woman, that is, to everything feminine; it corresponds to the created, the maternal (Mama Pacha) and permanence.
Main deities and calendar: Inti, Quilla, and Venus
For the Andean people, the Sun is the king of stars, an object of worship and adoration, the driving force behind all life on Earth. The Moon, the queen of stars, is called Quilla and was reputed to be the mother of the Incas; she also had her own statue in the form of a woman in the Qoricancha. The Moon, like the Sun, had its own calendar and governed the time of sowing, irrigation and harvesting; it is also said that coca, in the light of the moon, provided information about the situation of the dead and announced the death of people.
Venus was honoured because she was the Sun’s page, as she was always close to him; sometimes she went ahead to guide her lord along the way. Therefore, Quilla (the Moon), Inti (the Sun) and Venus were the main deities of the Tahuantinsuyo.
Conclusión
Visiting the Qoricancha, now part of the Santo Domingo temple, is a journey into the past: it invites you to wonder how the ancient Tahuantinsuyo managed to build a work of such precision and beauty. As you walk along its Inca walls, still visible within the colonial enclosure, you will be amazed by the engineering, symbolism and serenity of the place. For all these reasons, visiting Qoricancha is not just a tourist attraction: it is an essential experience for understanding the greatness of the Andes and one of the historical wonders of Cusco that is not to be missed.
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