The Temple of the Sun also known as the Torreon may have served as a primitive solar observatory. It was dedicated to their greatest deity, the Sun. Enclosed by a semicircular wall, the only one in Machu Picchu, the room contains a stone altar and windows strategically placed to observe astronomical events. Two windows are aligned to the stone altar, which is located at the center of the room. According to how it catches the sun’s rays it signals the winter and summer solstices, the longest and shortest days of the year.

a

Temple of the Sun, the only semicircular wall in Machu Picchu

a

The window facing southeast provides a view of the constellation Pleiades also known as Collca by the Incas. This constellation was responsible for the preservation of seed and was especially revered. The observation of Pleiades helped them calculate changes in season to make decisions about the times of planting and harvest. The Temple of the Sun is the best display of Inca masonry skills. Large granite walls were shaped to fit perfectly together to form rounded walls without the use of cement or mortar. This wall and the ingeniously carved steps formed some sort of altar where priests offered gifts to the Sun to keep him happy.

a

Temple of the Sun, also known as Torreon

a

The Intihuatana stone or “Hitching Post of the Sun” was used by the Incas to measure the angle of the sun and shows when the solstice and equinoxes occur. At mid day on March 21st and September 21st the sun stands directly above the pillar forming no shadow at all. At these moments the Incas held a ceremony tying the sun to the rock therefore the name “Hitching Post of the Sun”.

a

Intihuatana Stone

a

Since the Sun or Inti was the most powerful deity in Inca religion he was an important factor in the success of the crop season. The significance of this ceremony was to hitch the sun to the stone and convince him to stay stopping it from going too far on the darkness. The time leading to the winter solstice was a time of uncertainty since the sun was getting lower and lower and the days darker. It was an attempt to make sense of unexplainable natural phenomena. Every important city had one Intihuatana.

Related Information

a

Inca Religion

The Incas were polytheist, they worshiped the Sun, the Moon, natural resources and animals.

Machu Picchu History

Hiram Bingham, an American explorer, accidentally discovered the “Lost City of the Incas”, it was covered in dense vegetation.

Why was Machu Picchu built?

There must have been a good reason to justify the laborious construction of this magic city in such a challenging land.

Travel Machu Picchu

The Inca citadel is located 80 km northwest the city of Cusco, it sits majestically between the mountains of Machu Picchu and Wuayna Picchu in the most unreachable area of the Urubamba River.

Machu Picchu Sectors

There are two sectors in Machu Picchu, each sector was constructed on a natural division due to a geological fault.

Interesting facts about Machu Picchu

A no-fly zone restriction exists above the area.