Cusco is considered one of the Cultural Heritage Patrimony Cities of the World. It is the Historical Capital of Peru, having been the political, social and religious center of the Inca Empire, also known as the Tawantinsuyu. At the time of its apogee and maximum expansion, the Empire of the Tawantinsuyu encompassed a very considerable area of South America which included virtually all of the present-day nations of Perú, Bolivia and Ecuador, as well as great sections of northern Chile and Argentina
The Empire of the Incas constituted a remarkable example of social, political and religious administrative structure, and is considered one of the fundamental and primordial civilizations in the history of Humanity. Particularly noteworthy was the advanced stage of development of architecture, masonry, sculpture, ceramics, metalworking, hydraulic engineering, road building and communications, terraced farming and agricultural techniques, textile production, medicine and its famous calendrical astronomy.
Upon the advent of the Spanish Conquest in the early XVI century, a fusion two cultures took place. This became clearly manifest in the general architecture of the time as well as in other art forms, painting, sculpture, etc.
The City of Cusco is located at 3,400 meters above sea level, at the head of a fertile yet sparsely vegetated inter-Andean Valley situated on the west-facing flank of the Eastern Range of the Cordillera of the Andes.
The climate is generally cool and dry throughout the year, with two very distinctly marked seasons. These are the "wet", or rainy, season, lasting from September to March (corresponding to Spring-Summer in our southern latitudes); and the "dry" and "sunny" season from April to August (Fall and Winter in the Southern Hemisphere). The mean, average temperature lies in the vicinity of 17° C-22° C. |
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