There is a great uniformity in Inca architecture. In the highlands the edifices are usually built of porphyry or granite, and in the coastal regions more frequently of brick. The walls often have a thickness of several feet, but are rather low, seldom attaining more than ten or twelve feet in height. The apartments seldom open into each other—usually onto a court. The doors, which ordinarily provide the only entrance for light, are like the Egyptian, narrower at the top. The ruins at Machu Picchu (mä-choo peek´-choo) and in that vicinity are remarkable because windows are quite common in them. As the Incas had not evolved the arch, their doors, windows and niches were crowned with a lintel stone, in many cases necessarily a huge affair. Among the most interesting features of an Inca residence are these niches, probably used for shelves, perhaps for shrines, although if for that purpose there would seem to be more of them than necessary in most houses.
The fineness of the stonework is, of course, the most remarkable characteristic of the Incas’ architecture. They seemed able to fit, with equal facility, blocks of stone weighing tons and those weighing but a few pounds. Although they are not known to have used the T-square, some of their angles are very true, and when it seemed desirable, they could build a straight wall. Particularly beautiful are some of their circular structures, such as the Temple of the Sun in Cuzco.
It is probable that only the temples and palaces of the rulers were so well built, and that the common people lived in houses of mud and stone. One of the most remarkable structures in Peru, the temple of Uiraccocha (u-eer-äk-ko´-chä) at Racche (räk´-chay), shows a combination of fine stonework, and mud and stone. In addition, the upper part of these walls, which tower some thirty feet high, is of adobe (a-do´-bay) only, and centuries of weathering has done but little more damage to the sun-dried bricks than to the granite foundations.
There is something incongruous in the fact that the roofs of the buildings walled so beautifully, and often covered inside with skilfully woven tapestries and gold adornments, were commonly of thatch. The rafters were of wood, tied on to ring stones and projecting cylinder stones with maguey withes. But, although they were ignorant of iron, did not even mortise their timbers, and were content with a dingy, unlighted interior, the buildings of the Incas were adapted to the character of the climate, and the wisdom of their plan is attested by the number which still survive, while the more modern constructions of the conquerors have been buried in ruins.
Providing they escape the destructive hands of the treasure-hunting Peruvians, only a gigantic cataclysm of the earth’s surface can destroy these monuments to the stoneworking skill of Peru’s ancient inhabitants.
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 6, No 3, SERIAL No. 151
COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.
DOORWAYS IN INCA RUINS OF ROSASPATA