The fortress is a structure built by the Incans into the mountainside of the Andes Mountains. It is found right outside of present day Ollantaytambo, Peru, that was established in the adjacent valley. The fortress scales the height of the mountain, and can be seen from almost anywhere in the city. From a distance, most of the building, including the bottom entrance, looks like a wide set of stairs. But up close, these are actually large terrances. Above the terrances are a design of alleys, stairs, rooms, and windows. All of which are created with stones, ranging from the size of your hand to the weight of many tons. The expanse of stone looks menacing from below.
[Figure 1]
[Figure 2]
At about 7 feet high, the terrances are very difficult to climb, especially with the smooth stonework done by the Incans. On all other sides of the mountian, the rock is too steep for many men to climb at once with ease. The only easy access to the rest of the building is up a narrow staircase that cuts the terrance into two. In the upper most parts of the rock, windows point toward in different directions, allowing many possibilities for guard posts and look outs. The floorplan of the fortress makes it easily defendable against almost any enemy. One would not be able to enter without many eyes on them from all parts of the fortress.
[Figure 3]
Water naturally runs down the mountains from springs and melted ice. It takes the path of least resistence all the way down to flat ground. The Incans were very smart in controlling this movement. Small channels run aside staircases and walls all throughout the fortress directing water to certain points and away from others. The terrances served as more than just a defense. The land on top was used to grow crops. So some of the water ways were directed to the terrances. Every purposeful crevace was part of a long water line. Some channels were underground, especially those at the base of the mountain. They had faucets that released water into pools. The pools would then fill up and release water through another opening. Little searching will result in the discovery of water channels in all parts if the fortress.
[Figure 4]
[Figure 5]
Instead of having one consistent way of building walls and stairs, the Incans had a few ways that show up in every permanent location they built. In some instances, they took all shapes of rocks and fitted them together by using different shapes and sizes and put a muddy mixture-like substance in the spaces between [Figure 6 & 7]. This mixture was either adobe or mortar. In other cases, they formed retangular rocks to create a more organized looking wall [Figure 8]. The mortar or adobe mixture would be used here as well. They also used this for stairs. One of their more famous strategies was to find thick, large boulders, and cut other rocks to fit into that [Figure 9]. This method had to be very precise. They used only the shape and weight of the rocks to hold it into place. No mortar was needed. In the big boulders, normally toward the bottom, sticking out, were block shaped abscesses [Figure 10]. These were used as bases to push the rocks up on top of one another with sticks. The bigger the rock, the bigger the abscess.
[Figure 6]
[Figure 7]
[Figure 8]
[Figure 9]
[Figure 10]
In many of my other posts, I mentioned how pre-Incan cultures used birds in their artwork. The Incans had this too. They respected the condor, a type bird, a lot in the architecture. At the fortress, poking out of the mountain, is a part of rock that was sculpted to resemble a condor. On one side, you can clearly see his head, with his pointed beak sticking out the farthest. He is huge and hangs over the side of mountain as if to guard it.
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