Description
This complex is the most important archaeological center in the Urubamba valley, after Ollantaytambo and Pisac. The ruins are impressive, although the conservation of the site is inferior to that of Ollantaytambo or Pisac, because they are older.
But unlike the aforementioned places, Huchuy Qosqo has a peculiar architecture: the buildings have been built on polished stone bases with a fine finish, with clay plaster (they are the best preserved parts) and the highest floors are made of adobe. INFORMATION OF HUCHUY QOSQO TREK
A kallanka (rectangular enclosure that could measure up to 70 meters long and that were important state centers where Inca officials stayed) is observed, at least 40 to 50 meters long. Also a remarkable building with two stone floors and an upper one of adobe. There are also large terraces, a very large plaza and a large Inca gate through which a well-preserved path leads from Tambomachay.
The Hispanic chronicles refer that Huchuy Qosqo (probably a site known in Inca times as Caquia Jaquijahuana) was the work and preferred place of the Inca Wiracocha. To this, Maria Rostworoski adds, in her work "History of the Tahuantinsuyo", that this sovereign established the conquest over the towns of the Urubamba valley and that he chose as his successor his Inca son Urco who, dizzy with power and vices, proved to be totally incapable of ruling. Inca royalty was very confused by this choice and they tried to conspire to impose on another Wiracocha son, Prince Cusi Yupanqui. Social unrest and tension increased every day and to make matters worse, the darkest night fell on Cuzco: the Chancas reached the gates of the capital and were ready to destroy it. It is the year of 1438. Wiracocha abandons the city to his fate and, accompanied by his son Inca Urco, takes refuge in his palaces in the Urubamba Valley, among which was Huchuy Qosqo.
After the Spanish conquest, Gonzalo Pizarro found the mummy that supposedly belonged to the Inca Wiracocha here and ordered to burn it. The descendants of the Inca kept the ashes in a jar that many years later the chronicler Polo de Ondegardo would discover.
