The spot this cathedral has been built on has long been thought sacred. Prior to being the cathedral's site held the Coricancha, which was a key Incan temple, the corner stone in their elaborate astronomical studies. Running out of the Coricancha were 40 lines, all pointing to important places on the horizon sometimes hundreds of miles away. The Incas used the temple, and its relationship with specially erected standing stones and key points on the horizon, to tell the time and monitor their position on the calender. The first Spanish to enter the city told stories of the temple being covered in huge sheets of gold and ceremonies taking place here round the clock.

The Spanish were quick to raid the gold and some of the stones to re-fashion the temple into their own cathedral, but the Incan walls have withstood the test of time, and earthquakes, far better than the European ones did and parts of the Incan temple can still be seen within the cathedral.

Written by  Stuart James.

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