Raqch'i (Quechua) [1] [2] is an Inca archaeological site in Peru in the Cusco Region, Canchis Province, San Pedro District, near the populated site of Raqch'i. It is located 3480 meters above sea level and 110 kilometers from the city of Cuzco. [3] It is also known as the Temple of Wiracocha, one of its constituent parts. Both are located on the Vilcanota River. [4] The site has experienced an increase in tourism in recent years, with 83,334 visitors in 2006, up from 8,183 in 2000 and 452 in 1996.

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Andi

April 24, 2024

The most famous structure is the Wiracocha Temple, a huge rectangular, two-story, roofed structure measuring 92 meters (302 ft) by 25.5 meters (84 ft). This structure consists of a central adobe wall about 18 to 20 meters high with an andesite base. Windows and doors allow passage. It is flanked on each side by a row of eleven columns. The foundations are 4 meters (13 ft) high, both the wall and columns are made of classic tall Inca masonry, the remaining height being made of adobe.

Before its destruction by the Spanish, the temple is believed to have had the largest single gable roof in the Inca Empire, the peak of which was at the central wall and then extended over the columns and about 25 meters (82 ft) beyond each side. The largest gabled roof known to date in the Inca Empire and the pre-Columbian Americas is found within the Inkallaqta complex, but it does not have a peak on the central wall as in the Temple of Raqchi. The enormous dimensions of the Raqchi Temple and its prominent position on the site explain why the entire complex is sometimes referred to as the Wiracocha Temple.

The temple is the only Inca building for which we have an account of how people were supposed to pass through it. It is of great significance that the design of the building provides that upon entering the two known entrances, visitors are immediately blocked from progressing by a series of tall columns around which they must walk. If the followers had understood this as a suggestion of how they should proceed through the building, they would have begun to trace a path that resembled a zigzag movement. This may have been a deliberate design; a way of expressing aspects of Inca cosmology, particularly their relationship to Wiracocha. As they made their way through the temple, the faithful would have made their way to the statue of Viracocha, the volcano and the spring.

According to Inca mythology, Wiracocha came to the region the Inca called Kacha, but the locals did not recognize him and tried to attack him. When he saw this, he made fire fall from the sky and burn the hills around the people. The Kacha went to Wiracocha and begged for forgiveness, he put out the fires and explained to them who he was. They built a wak'a (shrine) on the spot where Wiracocha had stood and made many offerings to him. When the Inca Huayna Capac passed by the province of Kacha, he saw the wak'a shrine of Viracocha in the middle of the plain and asked why it was there. The people of the province told him about the miracle Viracocha had performed. He decided that the memory of this event should be greater and ordered the construction of the temple.
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raqch%27i

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Location: San Pedro, Canchis, Cusco, Peru

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