The citadel of Sacsayhuaman is yet another marvel of Inca engineering that has been despoiled by the Spanish conquerers and what is left to visit is a pale shadow of its former glory. The complex is on the edge of the Incan capital at Cusco but most of the stones were looted for building materials after the Spanish conquest and only the largest are left.
The map below shows the position of the site relative to Cusco and is copied from the Sygic Travel site here.
Visiting Sacsayhuaman Citadel
Our visit to Sacsayhuaman was as part of a half day trip from Cuzco but it would be just as easy to get a taxi or even walk, the citadel is that close. The site is huge and I didn’t get to explore anywhere near all of it. There was no information that I could see, anywhere and no facilities at all on the site.
My Experience
Sacysayhuaman Citadel was absolutely freezing, especially compared with Machu Picchu the day before, so wrap up for your visit! We stopped on the road overlooking the site and took a couple of photos which gave a far better idea of the scale of the site.
It is difficult to make sense of what the ruins that are left but you can at least appreciate the skill of the Inca builders and the way they fitted the blocks together. Bear in mind that these blocks are huge and are fitted together without mortar.
Reading through the various guides online I realise how much of the site I missed! This is the downside of an organised group visit, you have limited time. Also, it is a sad reflection on my lack of preparedness 20 years ago!
I’d suggest spending a day in Cusco before doing any serious walking to acclimatise to the altitude, beware of the cold and also the sun. Ironic I know but one day I was freezing and the next I was in tshirt and shorts and got sunburned. Admittedly that probably points to me not being very bright but it’s something to be aware of.
The Spanish description of the original site, taken from the Wiki page here, is:
“on top of a hill they [the Inca] had a very strong fort surrounded with masonry walls of stones and having two very high round towers. And in the lower part of this wall there were stones so large and thick that it seemed impossible that human hands could have set them in place…they were so close together, and so well fitted, that the point of a pin could not have been inserted in one of the joints. The whole fortress was built up in terraces and flat spaces.” The numerous rooms were “filled with arms, lances, arrows, darts, clubs, bucklers and large oblong shields…there were many morions…there were also…certain stretchers in which the Lords travelled, as in litters.” Pedro Pizarro described in detail storage rooms that were within the complex and filled with military equipment.”
Sacsayhuaman Citadel Photo Gallery
These next photos were taken in the dim and distant past of 2003 and they were not taken in RAW so these are pretty much unedited jpgs. I’d like to think my own skill in photography has moved on since then too so these may not be ideal pictures. Sorry!
History
It was the Emperor Pachacuti who began work on Sacsayhuaman in the 1440s, although it took nearly a century of creative work to finish it. Various types of rock were used, including enormous diorite blocks from nearby for the outer walls, Yucay limestone from more than 15km away for the foundations, and dark andesite, some of it from over 30km away at Rumicolca, for the inner buildings and towers. First, boulders were split by boring holes with stone or cane rods and wet sand; next, wooden wedges were inserted into these holes and saturated to crack the rocks into more manageable sizes; finally the blocks were shifted into place with levers. With only natural fibre ropes, stone hammers and bronze chisels, it must have been an enormous task.
During the fateful battle of 1536, Juan Pizarro, Francisco’s son, was killed as he charged the main gate in a surprise assault, and a leading Inca nobleman, armed with a Spanish sword and shield, caused havoc by repulsing every enemy who tried to scale Muyu Marca, the last tower left in Inca hands. Having sworn to fight to the death, he leapt from the top when defeat seemed inevitable, rather than accept humiliation and dishonour. After the battle the esplanade was covered in native corpses: food for vultures and inspiration for the Cusco coat of arms, which, since 1540, has been bordered by eight condors “in memory of the fact that when the castle was taken these birds descended to eat the natives who had died in it”. The conquistadors wasted little time in dismantling most of the inner structures of the fortress, using the stones to build Spanish Cusco.
References
Laid back travel have an excellent guide to plan your visit to Sacsayhauman Citadel here.
The history above is copied from the Rough Guides site here, which also has detailed information.