The Sacsayhuaman citadel complex was first brought to my attention through a customer who liked the design, and having circular features, it had an immediate appeal to me as well. There are multiple spellings but Sacsayhuaman and Saqsaywaman are the most common.
The complex, covering a wide area, was devastated stone by stone after the siege of Cusco in 1536-37. The siege, by an Inca army against the Spanish was a failure, and the stones - the ones they were able to move, were then used to construct the buildings and houses of the occupiers. Some of the blocks are estimated to be between 128 - 200 tonnes and the ruins suggest a high precision of cutting and fitting, without mortar, with seems as thin as paper. The estimated total volume of stone for the ruins is 6000 cubic meters!
The Killke culture (900 - 1200 CE), named by an American archaeologist, were the original builders of the site and was expanded upon by the Inca in the 13th. century. The site, in all it's precision, and the builders ability to quarry and move around large heavy stones, reminds me of other ruins from around the world, such as Baalbek in Lebanon and the pyramids of Egypt.
This artistic rendering in the, Muyumarca portion of these ruins was cast in cement and sand, set into a substrate of pulp and plaster, topped in crushed poplar leaf and mounted in a cedar frame.
