Museums and Festivities

Festival in Cusco (Wednesday June 17, 2015)

WEDNESDAY:

Today we (minus Savannah, who was stuck inside our hotel room with an illness) visited the Museo Inka as well as the Museo de Arte Precolombino. On our way to the first museum, we stopped to see an ongoing festival--known as Inti Raymi or Festival of the Sun--in the Plaza de Armas in which traditional dancers represent the communities surrounding the city of Cusco. The festival brought about many civilians carrying flags displaying local schools as well as tourists and street vendors.

Example of Inca Architecture, Found in a Cusco Alley (Wednesday June 17, 2015)

A Closer Look at the Inca Architecture (Wednesday June 17, 2015) 

The Museo Inka did not allow for pictures, but I recognized several pieces similar to earlier exhibits in Lima and new displays that provided a glimpse of what is to come when we visit Ollantaytambo, Moray, and Machu Picchu in the upcoming days. Similar pieces included stirrup-spouts with depictions of felines and birds from the Chimu culture, textiles from the Paracas culture, and pottery with depictions of staffs and serpents for hair from the Wari culture.




Furthermore, this museum offered a brief overview of the engineering that went into the early Inca agriculture, the differences in Inca architecture and how it compares to preceding cultures, and the importance of crops--particularly maize--to the early Peruvian settlers. The image provided exemplifies the geometric precision of stone walls used by the Incas. Looking closely at each crevice, one can see the meticulous detail that goes with each stone carving and placement.    


 
Afterwards, we visited the Museo de Arte Precolombino which also included spectacles comparable to those found in Lima's Museo Larco. The difference about this museum visit was that we were able to determine which artifact belonged to which culture and observe the geometry designed in each piece. I seemed to find a great deal of creations that contained the stair-step pattern--a pattern in which there are three steps that indicate the heavens, the earth, and the underworld. It was interesting to note that this design carried across several cultures, proving that each culture had an impact on one another. 
  

Inca "stair-step" pattern

Paracas "stair-step" pattern

Cupisnique "stair-step" pattern