Friday, 5 September 2014
The last stop of the day that we made was in St. Peter's Apostle Church, known as the Sistine Chapel of the Americas. This is one of the 3 most important and earliest churches built by the Jesuits, as mentioned earlier. It was built over a span of 50 years in the 2nd half of the 17th century, and It took 40 years for the walls to be painted, it was painted by a Peruvian artist. This church has 2 original organs. There are altogether 25 original organs in all of Peru, these 3 churches had a total of 5.
Both these churches were built in the Andean Baroque style with a little bit of Muslim architecture especially in the roof area, and were built by the Spanish.
We finally reached Cusco at about 5.30 pm, and it was raining heavily. The Inca empire was divided into 4 main regions, the North (Colombia and Ecuador), the South (Bolivia, Chile and Argentina), the West (Peru) and the East (Brazil). The centre of the Incan empire was Cusco, (qosco is Quecha for centre). That is why the temple for their most important God, Wira Kocha, was built in Raqchi, which is in Cusco. The principal activity in Cusco is tourism. As a result, many people in Cusco could speak English which was a welcome change.
Because it was raining, I didn't really walk around much, I just went to shops nearby the hotel to buy stuff for my Amazon jungle trip such as mosquito repellant, wet wipes, torch light and batteries. Apparently there is no electricity, no hot water and no wifi. Fun times. While walking around, I made a new friend, Carlos who is an Incan descendant and he taught me how to play the traditional Incan or Peruvian flute, although no sound came out when I tried it. From what little I saw of Cusco, it really is a very pretty city, with many old churches and buildings. I am looking forward to my city tour in Cusco after my trip to the Amazon jungle.
The last stop of the day that we made was in St. Peter's Apostle Church, known as the Sistine Chapel of the Americas. This is one of the 3 most important and earliest churches built by the Jesuits, as mentioned earlier. It was built over a span of 50 years in the 2nd half of the 17th century, and It took 40 years for the walls to be painted, it was painted by a Peruvian artist. This church has 2 original organs. There are altogether 25 original organs in all of Peru, these 3 churches had a total of 5.
Both these churches were built in the Andean Baroque style with a little bit of Muslim architecture especially in the roof area, and were built by the Spanish.
We finally reached Cusco at about 5.30 pm, and it was raining heavily. The Inca empire was divided into 4 main regions, the North (Colombia and Ecuador), the South (Bolivia, Chile and Argentina), the West (Peru) and the East (Brazil). The centre of the Incan empire was Cusco, (qosco is Quecha for centre). That is why the temple for their most important God, Wira Kocha, was built in Raqchi, which is in Cusco. The principal activity in Cusco is tourism. As a result, many people in Cusco could speak English which was a welcome change.
Because it was raining, I didn't really walk around much, I just went to shops nearby the hotel to buy stuff for my Amazon jungle trip such as mosquito repellant, wet wipes, torch light and batteries. Apparently there is no electricity, no hot water and no wifi. Fun times. While walking around, I made a new friend, Carlos who is an Incan descendant and he taught me how to play the traditional Incan or Peruvian flute, although no sound came out when I tried it. From what little I saw of Cusco, it really is a very pretty city, with many old churches and buildings. I am looking forward to my city tour in Cusco after my trip to the Amazon jungle.
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