It is one of the most impressive monuments in the entire Ollantaytambo circuit and features a majestic and immense wall of six perfectly fitted monoliths in an incomparable arrangement, plus smaller prominences that give an idea of how these stones were transported.
The Fortress of Ollantaytambo or the Royal House of the Sun
Within this site, we find the Plaza Mañay Racay, also known as Aracma Ayllu, which served a ceremonial purpose during the Inca era. You can also see the octagonal dwellings that were divided into blocks known as the Qosqo Ayllu (City of Cusco).
About the Temple of the Sun in Ollantaytambo:
It is a place full of magic and, above all, a flow of energy that you can feel when you are in this beautiful and magical place.
These prominent ruins, which command a view over the town of Ollantaytambo, were the site of the only major Inca defeat at the hands of the Spanish forces. Today, they are also one of the most accessible ruins in the Cusco region, as you can walk directly to them from the town.
Along with the ruins of Pisac, Ollantaytambo is a must-see for anyone visiting Machu Picchu (and yes, I recommend visiting them before going to Machu Picchu).
Key moment in history: When the Spanish took Cusco, Manco Inca fled to Ollantaytambo, and in 1536 they attempted a surprise attack on the valley. The Inca emperor Manco, from atop the fortress, led his army and defeated the Spanish using stones, arrows, and controlled flooding at the bottom of the valley.
In ancient times, Ollantaytambo was a village that, when Pachacuti became the ninth Inca and conquered the region, was destroyed and transformed into his personal property. On the hill, he built a llaqta (fortress-city) to defend himself against the Antis (jungle tribes) who descended from the upper parts of the valley.
Ollantaytambo is considered a masterpiece of Inca architecture. The main section includes 17 imposing terraces leading to a fortress. At the top, there is an impressive wall with 10 niches and the Gate of the Sun, as well as a monolithic Temple of the Sun composed of six enormous blocks of pink granite.
This temple has 150 steps separating its upper and lower sections, and the perfectly carved stones are evident. It is built of granite, with the Wall of the Six Monoliths being particularly noteworthy, joined by stone slabs (whose function was to absorb impacts during earthquakes).
Extraordinary Structure
This building was conceived as an extraordinary and unique structure—that is, without parallel anywhere else—but it was never fully completed as such, since it was not the product of a single design, but rather the work of several generations of architects. This resulted in walls around the temple with a more rudimentary finish, built with recycled blocks from other constructions and large spaces between them filled with unhewn stones.
The pink granite was extracted from a quarry located about 4 km away, on the other side of the Sacred Valley, on the southwest slope of the mountains. The rocks were partially hewn at the quarry and transported to the valley floor. To cross the river, the Quechua people built an artificial canal parallel to the natural riverbed, which allowed them to divert the river water when necessary. Thus, while water flowed through one canal, the other remained dry, facilitating the transport of the stones to the other side of the valley.
Furthermore, the stones were moved from one mountain to another and then transported to the site where the temple was built, via a sloping ramp resembling a road, the outline of which is still clearly visible at the bottom of the valley.
This was accomplished with the help of logs or round stones used as wheels, leather ropes, South American camels (such as llamas and alpacas), levers, pulleys, and the strength of hundreds, even thousands, of men. Today, along the path that connects the quarry to the temple, one can see dozens of enormous stones that people call "tired stones," as it is believed they were never able to reach their final destination. Some of the blocks of the Temple of the Sun weigh more than forty tons.
