IMAGE AT TIAHUANACU.
[This is an enlarged drawing of the bas-relief shown in the picture of the broken doorway (p. [218]). Cf. the cuts in the article on the ruins of Tiahuanacu in the Revue d’Architecture des Travaux publics, vol. xxiv.; in Ch. Wiener’s L’Empire des Incas, pl. iii.; in D’Orbigny’s Atlas to his L’Homme Américain; and in Squier’s Peru, p. 291.—Ed.]
The monolithic portal is one block of hard trachytic rock, now deeply sunk in the ground. Its height above ground is 7 ft. 2 in., width 13 ft. 5 in., thickness 1 ft. 6 in., and the opening is 4 ft. 6 in. by 2 ft. 9 in. The outer side is ornamented by accurately cut niches and rectangular mouldings. The whole of the inner side, from a line level with the upper lintel of the doorway to the top, is a mass of sculpture, which speaks to us, in difficult riddles, alas! of the customs and art-culture, of the beliefs and traditions, of an ancient and lost civilization.
BROKEN MONOLITH DOORWAY AT TIAHUANACU.
[An enlarged drawing of the image over the arch is given in another cut. This same ruin is well represented in Ruge’s Gesch. des Zeitalters der Entdeckungen; and not so well in Wiener’s Pérou et Bolivie, p. 419. Cf. Squier’s Peru, p. 288.—Ed.]
In the centre there is a figure carved in high relief, in an oblong compartment, 2 ft. 2 in. long by 1 ft. 6 in.[1148] Squier describes this figure as angularly but boldly cut. The head is surrounded by rays, each terminating in a circle or the head of an animal. The breast is adorned with two serpents united by a square band. Another band, divided into ornamented compartments, passes round the neck, and the ends are brought down to the girdle, from which hang six human heads. Human heads also hang from the elbows, and the hands clasp sceptres which terminate in the heads of condors. The legs are cut off near the girdle, and below there are a series of frieze-like ornaments, each ending with a condor’s head. On either side of this central sculpture there are three tiers of figures, 16 in each tier, or 48 in all, each in a kneeling posture, and facing towards the large central figure. Each figure is in a square, the sides of which measure eight inches. All are winged, and hold sceptres ending in condors’ heads; but while those in the upper and lower tiers have crowned human heads, those in the central tier have the heads of condors. There is a profusion of ornament on all these figures, consisting of heads of birds and fishes. An ornamental frieze runs along the base of the lowest tier of figures, consisting of an elaborate pattern of angular lines ending in condors’ heads, with larger human heads surrounded by rays, in the intervals of the pattern. Cieza de Leon and Alcobasa[1149] mention that, besides this sculpture over the doorway, there were richly carved statues at Tiahuanacu, which have since been destroyed, and many cylindrical pillars with capitals. The head of one statue, with a peculiar head-dress, which is 3 ft. 6 in. long, still lies by the roadside.
TIAHUANACU RESTORED.