CUSCO CITY:
The Cathedral of Cusco : Renaissance monument located in the main square and placed over an Ancient Inca Temple. Inside the decoration is of the baroque style with splendid work of art like Cuzquenian School painting style. Its chorus and pulpit carved on wood and the beautiful altar in one piece covered by silver sheets.

Church and Santo Domingo Convent (Koricancha ): church belonged to the Dominic order and built over one of the most important Inca temples: Koricancha or temple of the Sun, where it was a place to worship the god Sun. Inside this temple there are work of arts in gold and silver.

La Compañía de Jesus or Jesuit Church : it was built over what was formerly the Amaru Cancha ("Fence of the Serpent") i n 1576, and it is located also at the main square of Cusco . Inside the church the walls are decorated in Cuzquenian School painting style.

Church of La Merced : an architectural monument built in 1536. Its walls and altars are carved and decorated with gold and precious stones like pearls, diamonds, rubies, topazes, etc.

San Blas neighborhood : traditional district of Cuzquenian handicraftsman, famous by its modest church, where there is the Pulpit of San Blas, showing its incomparable Cusquenian art. Nearby you can feel the mystical environment mixed with the music and art… which makes this a great place to visit at night!

Stone of Twelve angles: located close to the Main Square , in one of the walls of Hatunrumiyoc Street . This singular architectural piece grabs your attention and will astonish you with its amazing natural shape, due it having twelve angles that join exactly with the other stones of the building.

CUSCO NEARBY
MACHU PICCHU Citadel: elected as one of the NEW seven WONDERS of the WORLD in 2007, it is located 4 hours by train from Cusco ( 7644 feet ) and rounded by lush vegetation, with warm and humid weather. After 1911 an American called Hiram Bingham promoted the marvelous attributes of Machu Picchu to the world. It is considered by some specialists as a Fortress and for other as a religious centre. Machu Picchu has amazing buildings, designs, narrow streets and small squares divided into farming, military and housing areas. It is surprising also with its geographic location, on the top of the mountain, where you can arrive from an original and ancient Inca trail or from a road by buses in Aguas Calientes village. Aguas Calientes is accessible only by train.

Sacsayhuaman : Located two kilometers from Cusco city is situated over an area of land 3000 hectares in size. Sacsayhuaman was a militar fortress of the ancient Empire. It has terraces layered with big stone walls, which measure about 5 - 9 meters high.

Q'uenqo : or Kenko It was a religious ceremonial centre worshipping the “pachamama” (mother earth). Kenko means labyrinth.

Puca Pucara : That means Red Fortress. Is was a military complex, almost impregnable.

Tambomachay : or the Inca Bath . It was built to worship the element of Water.

SACRED VALLEY:
Pisac : Traditional town in the Sacred Valley that keeps lot of its ancient customs such as the Mass of Sundays in Quechua language and the typical Pisac market based on the barter system. Close to the town of Pisac in the high parts of the mountain are located the archeological rests of Pisac where you can get there part of the way by car and then by walking 30 minutes.

Ollantaytambo: an administrative, social, farming and religious centre during the Inca period due to its strategic location in the Sacred Valley on shores of Urubamba river. Nowadays is an interesting place to visit where you can appreciate the construction and heritage of the Inca town.

Chinchero: A traditional Inca village where local people make fine and detailed work of weaving and ceramic. Chinchero is unique with its Inca walls and its small colonial temple.

Maras Salt Mines : the province of Maras has one of the most important Salt mines of the region. They were worked since the Inca period. They are salt terraces in rectangular shapes and several sizes that decorate and change the scenery with colours and shapes different to the rest of the area.

Moray aqueducts: An impressive archaeological complex formed by a series of steps to form a natural amphitheater shape and it was used by ancient local Inca people for a agricultural laboratory.

SOUTH VALLEY
Piquillacta: Also known as “fleas land” or “sick people land”, according specialist it was a agricultural civil centre. The ruins are not in good condition; however, some areas have been restored. On this we can appreciate the stuccoes technique on the walls, an unusual process in Incas constructions.

Tipon: This beautiful complex of agricultural terraces, long stairways and stone carved channels is located 20 Km. south east from the city of Cusco (approximately 45 minutes). According to the legend, Tipon was one the royal gardens that was ordered to be constructed by Wiracocha. It is conformed by twelve terraces with walls made up of perfectly polished stone and enormous stair-type terraces, these terraces are quite big and they decrease their size as you go up. There are also channels and ornamental water falls.

It seems the sight of Tipon was part of the royal farm of Yawar Huacac and at the same time, a place dedicated to the religious cult and agricultural experimentation.

Raqchi : this archaeological complex is located in san Pedro de Cacha District, in Cusco Department at 11352 fasl on slope of Quimsachata volcano. It is famous for its ruins of the Temple of the Inca god Wiracocha. Its historical remains are unique for being built on base of Kallancas – traditional construction of Inca architectural design.

Andahuaylillas: A small town at about 10,492 feet above sea level, the weather here is very good, because is surrounded by mountains. Is also the head of the district of the same name, the providence of Quispicanchis, is located at 21.7 miles to the southeast of the city of Cusco, through the road that leads to the city of Puno.

The"Sixteen Chapel" of America. The church of San Pedro of Andahuaylillas id the mayor attractive for the tourist, because of the quality of the work that was developed it was considering the “Sixteen Chapel” of the Americas.

It was build by the Jesuits at the end of the century XVI and the beginning of c. XVII. The architectonic structures are the classic form of churches in small towns. The walls are wide, typical of the colonial buildings, made out of brick and dirt that is dry in the sun, the outside is decorated with murals and columns made out of rock. The church lodges, in addition, a collection of paintings from the Cusco School of Art, never before seen, that they all represent the life of San Pedro(with amazing paintings in gold leaf), and also an awesome organ, a baroque altar and some silver work.

Is very impressive the quantity of fresh painting that covers the walls, and also in the roof with geometric flowers that decorate with pieces of Gold. The altar is high, all made out of wood also made out of gold, in the middle you can see the statue of “The Virgin of Rosario” her altar is made out plates of silver. Down, it has a area with a lot of mirrors that are used to reflect the light from the candles and the light from outside, increasing the illumination inside the place.

To one side of the altar is where the priest leaves their clothing made out of threats of silver and gold. Here also there is object made out silver and gold that unfortunately were stolen in 1992 and they haven’t been found yet.

Bird Watching Half Day (Laguna de Huacarpay). Huacarpay is located at an altitude of 10,000 feet above sea level, it has an unique weather and it has access from Cusco, you can visit it all year round. This beautiful lagoon is surrounded by mountains that have inka platforms. There is a Hotel by the name of Urpicancha.

The lagoon has a remarkable landscape. Very near by to the right side of the road, you can find the road that leads to Rumicolca and just ahead one can find the complex of Pikillacta.

The colors of its waters are very blueish green, the vegetation that surrounds the lagoon is totora, it has local residents, and a variety of birds like ducks, trout, pejerrey, and the Karachi, comparing it with the lagoon of Urcos, this one has much more totora, the commerce with totora is very useful for the production of Q’esanas, that are some type of mats to sleep in, as well as the basket marker’s.

Huaro. It is a small town situated only four kilometers far from Andahuaylillas. The most important attraction is, without any question, its church next to the wide square.In the square we can also find the Hall Town and a big watch.

The church It is a real prodigy of mural art: the talent of the great Tadeo Escalante. Inside the church, it is fully decorated, and although it was not all his work, one of the best qualities of this church is the feeling of harmony that they achieved as he was in charge of the work. The murals were made in 1802.

Tadeo Escalante For art historians, he was the last "great painter of Cusco". Although he is so well considered, we hardly know about him. He was also said to be the author of the murals of the convent of Santa Catalina in Cusco and the church of Acomayo. But it was here, in Huaro, where he performed his greatest work showing his innovations and the path that the painting in Cusco followed at the beginning of the XIX century.

The murals Most of them were painted by Escalante. If he did not paint everything we are sure he directed the work.

The main decoration is in the low choir and the areas near it. In this area would have been seven big samples. The most important were the murals of El Infierno (The Hell) and Las Dos Muertes (The two deaths).

The ceiling The ceiling of Huaro is one of the most beautiful andean paintings. It does not follow the Mudejar style (apart from the ceiling of the Prebistery that is also the oldest one) nor the Baroque style. According to Macera, it belonged to an "andean rococo" style that gets free from standars and follows the author's imagination. Here, we can also see the criteria of the "fear for the emptiness" that is classic in the andean tradition. Something very important is that despite of being done by only one author, it seemed to belong to a global design.

The two deaths "Regarding the murals about death, protecting the entrance door, it can be said that: on the left there is a very especial scene with three couples of lovers having dinner on a table, the group that is surprised by the Death is hiding behind a tree. From the tree, there is a bell that Christ rings announcing the end, the Virgin Maria, on her knees, is praying for the people eating. Death cuts the tree and devil pull it so it falls quickly…"

At the other side of the door there are two superposed scenes: Death in the house of the Rich and Death in the house of the Poor.In the first one, you can observe a festive where many ladies and men are wearing all fashion clothes. Without being notice by her mate, distract trying to take some food, the Death has chosen a woman. It is a skeleton holding the feet of the victim. In the upper part of the wall we observe the "Death of the Poor". The person dying is lying at home. We can see it thanks to the missing wall of the house that the author has omitted. Towards him and crossing the square, there is a procession going with the viaticum. The architecture and all the styles create a picture of lovely candour and simplicity". Teresa Gisbert and Jose de Mesa.

The Last stages According to Macera, nothing can be compared to the representation of hell. Escalante starts following a pictoric tradition which was very common in the colonial world because the topic of the final judgement is very frequent.

The first thing calling the attention is the skeleton in whose bones lies the poor soul. Next to it, we find the symbols of the terrestrial vanity: mitre, tiara and crown. The decoration takes the visitor to the last scene: the hell where the sinners jump one over each other and have severe tortures before passing by the boiling pot. A very important element is the dragon that eats the sinners.

The nave The decoration may be described from the bottom to the top as follows: first you find the potatoes, then a border with sheep, and above that some scenes of saints such as San Alberto, San Martin de Porras, Santa Rosa de Lima and the Santiago Apostle. These scenes are mixed with the civil scenes of daily life, classics of the XIX century..