World Gardens in a Flash

Coricancha (Qorikancha) is the site of the former Inca center in Cusco and is now the base of the Santo Domingo church. This is a typical result when someone has previously done the laborous stonework or for the stones to be stolen and used in other buildings. A walk through Coricancha is educational about the Inca especially in terms of their stone building capabilities.

Most people leave by way of the formal gardens which are seen from above.

In this part of the garden, the three major Inka symbols are carved into plants so viewers can see the serpent, the jaguar and the condor from above. Other plants include some of the largest tree-sized fuscias I’ve seen.

Coricancha’s temples, according to Lonely Planet, one to the sun and one to the moon, were covered with solid sheets of gold and silver respectively. The museum documents some of the astrology used by the Inca, including two gorgeous modern astronomy paintings of the Milky Way.

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