What Kinds of Inca Art Survived the Spanish Onslaught

Pre-Columbian architecture in South America

Inca architecture is the nearly significant pre-Columbian architecture in Southward America. The Incas inherited an architectural legacy from Tiwanaku, founded in the 2nd century B.C.Eastward. in present-solar day Bolivia. A core characteristic of the architectural style was to use the topography and existing materials of the land as part of the design.^[i] The capital of the Inca empire, Cuzco, notwithstanding contains many fine examples of Inca architecture, although many walls of Inca masonry have been incorporated into Spanish Colonial structures. The famous royal estate of Machu Picchu (Machu Pikchu) is a surviving example of Inca compages. Other significant sites include Sacsayhuamán and Ollantaytambo. The Incas too developed an extensive road system spanning most of the western length of the continent and placed their distinctive architecture along the way, thereby visually asserting their imperial rule forth the frontier.^[i]

Characteristics [edit]

Inca buildings were made out of fieldstones or semi-worked rock blocks and dirt set in mortar; adobe walls were also quite mutual, usually laid over stone foundations.^[2] The material used in the Inca buildings depended on the region, for instance, in the declension they used large rectangular adobe blocks while in the Andes they used local stones.^[three] The most common shape in Inca architecture was the rectangular building without any internal walls and roofed with wooden beams and thatch.^[4] There were several variations of this basic design, including gabled roofs, rooms with 1 or two of the long sides opened and rooms that shared a long wall.^[5] Rectangular buildings were used for quite different functions in almost all Inca buildings, from humble houses to palaces and temples.^[6] Even so, there are some examples of curved walls on Inca buildings, mostly in regions outside the central expanse of Peru.^[7] Two-story buildings were infrequent; when they were built the 2d floor was accessed from the outside via a stairway or high terrain rather than from the beginning floor.^[8] Wall apertures, including doors, niches and windows, usually had a trapezoidal shape; they could be fitted with double or triple jambs as a form of ornamentation.^[9] Other kinds of decoration were scarce; some walls were painted or adorned with metallic plaques, in rare cases walls were sculpted with small animals or geometric patterns.^[10]

A trapezoidal doorway, a common element in Inca architecture, at Machu Picchu

The most mutual blended form in Inca compages was the kancha, a rectangular enclosure housing iii or more rectangular buildings placed symmetrically effectually a primal courtyard.^[eleven] Kancha units served widely different purposes as they formed the ground of simple dwellings as well as of temples and palaces; furthermore, several kancha could be grouped together to class blocks in Inca settlements.^[12] A testimony of the importance of these compounds in Inca architecture is that the central part of the Inca capital of Cusco consisted of large kancha, including Qurikancha and the Inca palaces.^[thirteen] The best preserved examples of kancha are plant at Ollantaytambo, an Inca settlement located forth the Urubamba River.^[14]

Inca architecture is widely known for its fine masonry, which features precisely cut and shaped stones closely fitted without mortar ("dry").^[15] However, despite this fame, most Inca buildings were actually fabricated out of fieldstone and adobe as described above.^[16] In the 1940s, American archaeologist John H. Rowe classified Inca fine masonry in 2 types: coursed, which features rectangular shaped stones, and polygonal, which features blocks of irregular shape.^[17] Forty years subsequently, Peruvian architect Santiago Agurto established iv subtypes by dividing the categories identified by Rowe:^[xviii]

• Cellular polygonal masonry: with pocket-sized blocks
• Ashlar polygonal masonry: with very large stones
• Encased coursed masonry: in which stone blocks are not aligned
• Sedimentary coursed masonry: in which stones are laid out in horizontal rows (i.e., ashlars)

The first two types were used on of import buildings or perimeter walls while the last two were employed generally on terrace walls and river canalization.^[19]

According to Graziano Gasparini and Luise Margolies, Inca stonemasonry was inspired by the architecture of Tiwanaku, an archaeological site in modern Bolivia built several centuries before the Inca Empire.^[20] They argue that according to ethnohistorical accounts the Incas were impressed past these monuments and employed large numbers of stoneworkers from nearby regions in the construction of their ain buildings.^[21] In improver to these references, they also identified some formal similarities betwixt Tiwanaku and Inca architecture including the use of cutting and polished stone blocks, as well every bit of double jambs.^[22] A problem with this hypothesis is the question of how expertise was preserved in the three hundred years between the plummet of Tiwanaku and the appearance of the Inca Empire and its architecture. Every bit a solution, John Hyslop has argued that the Tiahuanaco stonemasonry tradition was preserved in the Lake Titicaca region in sites such as Tanka Tanka, which features walls resembling Inca polygonal masonry.^[23]

A 2nd major influence on Inca compages came from the Wari culture, a civilisation gimmicky to Tiwanaku. According to Ann Kendall, the Huari introduced their tradition of building rectangular enclosures in the Cusco region, which formed a model for the evolution of the Inca kancha.^[24] In that location is evidence that such traditions were preserved in the Cusco region after the decline of the Wari as is attested by the enclosures found at sites such as Choquequirao (Chuqi K'iraw), 28 kilometers southeast of the Inca capital.^[25]

Masonry and construction methods [edit]

Digital reconstruction of original Inca painting on Room 42 wall, Tambo Colorado; this late Inca period fortress/palace is nonetheless largely intact despite being constructed of adobe and located in an convulsion-decumbent area of Peru. Remaining traces of the original pigment guided this 2005 reconstruction. Laser scan data taken from a CyArk/University of California research partnership

Extraordinary manpower would have been necessary for large construction projects. The Inca Empire employed a system of tribute to the Inca authorities in the form of labor, chosen Mit'a that required all males betwixt 15-l to work on big public construction projects. Hyslop comments that the 'surreptitious' to the production of fine Inca masonry "…was the social organization necessary to maintain the nifty numbers of people creating such free energy-consuming monuments." Spanish Chronicler Pedro Cieza De Leon wrote that Pachacuti "ordered 20,000 men sent in from the provinces" for the structure of Sacsayhuaman.^[26]

Water engineer Ken Wright estimates that 60 percent of the Inca construction effort was underground. The Inca built their cities with locally bachelor materials, usually including limestone or granite. To cut these difficult rocks the Inca used rock, bronze or copper tools,^[27] usually splitting the stones along the natural fracture lines.

The stones were moved by teams of men pulling with ropes, as shown in the drawings chronicler Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala.^[28] Cieza De Leon likewise writes "4000 of them quarried and cutting the stones; 6000 hauled them with peachy cables of leather and hemp."^[26] Similar ropes used on Incan suspension bridges were made with ichu grass. Small ropes of these material take been tested at supporting a load of 4000lbs, with larger ropes being estimated at holding upwardly to l,000lbs.^[29] Without the wheel the stones were rolled up with wood beams on earth ramps. An unfinished chullpa in Sillustani all the same has a ramp in place. Father Cobo saw Inca builders using a like ramp in the construction of the Cathedral of Cusco.^[30]

It is speculated that the stones were swung into identify using friction to create perfectly convex and concave sides. Visible marks of facture like stone bosses were fabricated using rope; these elements demonstrated the artistic value of labor and the power of Inca dominion.^[i]

Unremarkably the walls of Incan buildings were slightly inclined within and the corners were rounded. This, in combination with masonry thoroughness, led Incan buildings to accept a peerless seismic resistance^{[ citation needed ]} thank you to high static and dynamic steadiness, absence of resonant frequencies and stress concentration points. During an earthquake with a pocket-sized or moderate magnitude, masonry was stable, and during a potent earthquake stone blocks were "dancing" near their normal positions and lay down exactly in right order after an earthquake.

Another building method was called "pillow-faced" architecture. The Incas would sand large, finely shaped stones which they would fit together in jigsaw like patterns. Pillow-faced architecture was typically used for temples and purple places similar Machu Picchu.

Ashlar masonry was used in the virtually sacred, elite Inca structure; for example, the Acllawasi ("House of the Chosen Adult female"), the Coricancha ("Golden Enclosure") in Cuzco, and the Sun Temple at Machu Picchu. Thus it seems that ashlar may have been more than greatly valued by the Inca, perhaps considered more difficult than polygonal ("pillow-faced") masonry. Though polygonal masonry may be aesthetically more impressive, the facture of ashlar masonry tends to be unforgiving to mistakes; if a corner is broken in the process it can exist reshaped to fit into the mosaic of polygonal masonry whereas y'all cannot recover a damaged rock in ashlar masonry.^[31]

Symbolism and patronage [edit]

Aesthetics: Combining the Built and Natural Environments [edit]

Inca architecture is strongly characterized past its use of the natural environs.^[32] The Inca managed to seamlessly merge their compages into the surrounding land and its specificities.^[33] At its tiptop, the Inca Empire spanned from Ecuador to Chile. Yet despite geographic variances, Inca architecture remained consistent in its ability to visually alloy the built and natural environment.^[33]

In particular, Inca walls practiced mortarless masonry and used partially worked, irregularly shaped rocks to complement the organic qualities and diversity of the natural environment.^[34] Through the dry fitted masonry techniques of caninacukpirca, the Incas shaped their stone to conceal natural outcrops, fit tight crevices, and ultimately contain the mural into their infrastructure.^[32]

The Inca also used natural bedrock as their structural foundations (to help keep the buildings stable).^[1] This pragmatically stabilized their structures built in the Andes mountain range of South America, while aesthetically disguising the boundaries between mount and edifice.^[1] In combination, the diversity of stone shape, materiality, and facture all furthered the naturalistic illusion of the Inca'south congenital surroundings.^[35]

Politics: Expansionist and Subservient Ideologies [edit]

Inca employment and integration of the natural surround into their architecture played an essential role in their program of civilizational expansion and cultural imperialism.^[1] Patronage of powerful elites and rulers of the Inca empire was a major impetus backside the construction of Inca structures, and much of the remaining architecture we see today was most likely imperial estates or mobile capitals for Sapa Inca to inhabit.^[33] The Sapa Inca naturalized and asserted their political dominion through their palaces' artful appeal to a reciprocal relationship between their imperialism and the earth itself.^[32] The composite, architectural aesthetic colored their political expansion in a sense of inseparable, timeless, and spiritual authority.^[33] For example, in the purple estate of Chinchero, the Incas adapted their large-scale earthwork and massive stone construction to the country'south dramatically steep valley in order to create intense, visual drama.^[33] Similarly to the architecture of other mountainous Inca citadels, such every bit Machu Picchu, the Chinchero manor's dynamic construction into the severe landscape demonstrated the raw, physical power of the Incas, and projected an authoritative aura for those who approached.^[33]

Come across as well [edit]

• Suspension span
• Inca rope span

Notes [edit]

1. ^ ^{a b c d east f} Dean, Carolyn (September 2007). "The Inka Married the Earth: Integrated Outcrops and the Making of Place". The Art Bulletin. 89 (iii): 502–518. doi:10.1080/00043079.2007.10786358. JSTOR 25067338. S2CID 194099969.
2. ^ Hyslop, Inka settlement, pp. eleven–12.
3. ^ Vergara, Teresa, "Arte y Cultura del Tahuantinsuyo", p.317
4. ^ Hyslop, Inka settlement, pp. five–6.
5. ^ Hyslop, inca settlement, p. 6.
6. ^ Gasparini and Margolies, Inca compages, p. 134.
7. ^ Hyslop, Inka settlement, pp. 7–8.
8. ^ Hyslop, Inka settlement, p. 8.
9. ^ Hyslop, Inka settlement, pp. 9–ten.
10. ^ Hyslop, Inka settlement, pp. ten–xi.
11. ^ Hyslop, Inka settlement, pp. 16–17.
12. ^ Hyslop, Inka settlement, p. 17.
13. ^ Gasparini and Margolies, Inca compages, pp. 181, 185.
14. ^ Gasparini and Margolies, Inca architecture, p. 187.
15. ^ Hyslop, Inka settlement, p. 12.
16. ^ Protzen, Inca architecture, p. 211.
17. ^ Rowe, An introduction, pp. 24–26.
18. ^ Agurto, Estudios acerca, pp. 144–175.
19. ^ Hyslop, Inka settlement, p. 15.
20. ^ Gasparini and Margolies, Inca architecture, p. 25.
21. ^ Gasparini and Margolies, Inca architecture, pp. 78.
22. ^ Gasparini and Margolies, Inca architecture, pp. 12–thirteen.
23. ^ Hyslop, Inka settlement, p. 23.
24. ^ Kendall, Aspects of Inca architecture, p. 352.
25. ^ Hyslop, Inka settlement, p. 20.
26. ^ ^{a b} Leon, Cieza (1553). "Chronicles of Peru Role Two". Retrieved 2022-01-02 .
27. ^ Rowe, John (1946). "Inca Culture At The Time Of The Spanish Conquest" (PDF) . Retrieved 2022-01-02 .
28. ^ Ayala, Felipe (1600–1650). "El primer nueva corónica y buen gobierno". Retrieved 2022-01-02 . {{cite web}}: CS1 maint: date format (link)
29. ^ Ochsendorf, John (2015). "Inka Route Symposium 08 - Inka Engineering: The Technology and Civilization of Roads and Bridges". Retrieved 2022-01-02 .
30. ^ Rowe, John (1946). "Inca Culture At The Time Of The Spanish Conquest" (PDF) . Retrieved 2022-01-02 .
31. ^ Nair, Stella (2015). At Home with the Sapa Inca: Architecture, Space, and Legacy at Chinchero. Academy of Texas Print. ISBN978-1477302507.
32. ^ ^{a b c} "Rock and Rule | A Culture of StoneInka Perspectives on Rock | Books Gateway | Duke Academy Press" (PDF). read.dukeupress.edu . Retrieved 2018-04-12 .
33. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Nair, Stella (2015). At Home with the Sapa Inca : Architecture, Infinite, and Legacy at Chinchero. University of Texas: Academy of Texas Press. p. half dozen. ISBN9781477302491.
34. ^ Niles, Susan A. (1987). Callachaca: Style and Condition in an Inca Community. Academy of Iowa: University of Iowa Press. ISBN9781587291685.
35. ^ "IntroductionComing to Terms with Inka Rocks | A Culture of StoneInka Perspectives on Rock | Books Gateway | Duke University Press" (PDF). read.dukeupress.edu . Retrieved 2018-04-12 .

References [edit]

• (in Spanish) Vergara, Teresa. "Arte y Cultura del Tahuantinsuyo". Historia del Republic of peru. Editorial Lexus, 2000. ISBN 9972-625-35-iv
• (in Spanish) Agurto, Santiago. Estudios acerca de la construcción, arquitectura y planeamiento incas. Lima: Cámara Peruana de la Construcción, 1987.
• Gasparini, Graziano and Margolies, Luize. Inca compages. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1980. ISBN 0-253-30443-1
• Hyslop, John. Inca settlement planning. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1990. ISBN 0-292-73852-8
• Kendall, Ann. Aspects of inca architecture: description, function and chronology. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, 1985.
• Protzen, Jean-Pierre. Inca architecture and construction at Ollantaytambo. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.
• Nair, Stella. At abode with the Sapa Inca: Compages, Space, and Legacy at Chinchero. University of Texas Impress ISBN 1477302506
• Rowe, John. An introduction to the archaeology of Cuzco. Cambridge: Harvard University, 1944.
• Dean, Carolyn (September 2007). "The Inka Married the Earth: Integrated Outcrops and the Making of Place". The Art Message. 89 (3): 502–518. doi:10.1080/00043079.2007.10786358. JSTOR 25067338. S2CID 194099969.

External links [edit]

• Peru Cultural Club – Inca Architecture
• Nair, Stella (2007). "Witnessing the In-visibility of Inca Architecture in Colonial Peru". Buildings & Landscapes: Journal of the Vernacular Architecture Forum. 14 (1): 50–65. doi:10.1353/bdl.2007.0006. S2CID 162206707. Projection MUSE 228207.

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Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inca_architecture