Peru Attractions

Venue: Sacsayhuaman    When: Daily

Almost five centuries after the fall of the Inca empire, the titanic fortress of Sacsayhuamán still stands above Cuzco, impervious to invading armies, earthquakes and the elements.

Gazing up at the structure, you can't help but wonder at the architectural skills of its builders. The enormous blocks that make up its walls (some weighing up to 300 tons and almost 30 feet tall) were sometimes transported more than 50 miles across hostile terrain and mountain passes. Somehow, in spite of the insurmountably hostile conditions, the architects of Sacsayhuamán managed to construct walls that are still so tight you can barely wedge a thin knife-blade between the blocks.

Even by today's standards the fortress is magnificent. Its enormous main ramparts and battlements, more than 1200 feet long, were designed to force any attacker to expose a flank and they tower far above the heads of visitors, seemingly as indestructible as the mountains from which they are carved.

The name is Quechua, and depending on your sources is either derived from the term for "satisfied falcon" or "marbled head". The first meaning is sometimes taken to refer to the great flocks of carrion birds that fed on the corpses left after the unsuccessful insurrection of Inca Manco against the Spanish usurpers, in 1536. In the other reading, the outline of Cuzco looks like a puma, and the hill on which the fortress rests is the "marbled head" of the beast.

Construction of the fortress is attributed to the great Pachacútec, the semi-legendary founder of the Inca empire. In the final days of the Incas the fortress was the site of the rebellion of Manco Inca, one of the last major battles of the empire's twilight years. The fortress thus stands appropriately at the beginning and end of the history of the empire, a poignant reminder both of the fragility of human life and the magnitude of its accomplishments.

History aside, the view over Cusco and the surrounding valley is amazing.