Stone of 12 Angles – Cusco, Peru
Inca stonework can be admired along many streets of Cusco. Take a quick walk and you’ll be able to admire the skills they had to build such walls with such perfection – all without the use of mortar.
One of the most important examples of these skills can be found on the Calle Hatunrumiyoc, where you will find the walls of what used to be an Inca palace, and nowadays is the Archbishop’s palace.
Hatunrumiyoc is located close to Plaza de Nazarenas, not far from Plaza de Armas. It is a narrow pedestrian street, famous for its Inca walls where huge stones are precisely carved to fit together, like a puzzle. Right there, you’ll find the masterpiece, a 12-angled stone, about halfway down the street. It is not know why this particular stone has 12 angles, but what is known is that the Incas had such a precise construction technique that not even a piece of paper fits in the joints between the different stones.
The Inca stonework was so precise, that Spanish conquerors often used the old Inca structures as foundations for their own buildings.
Today, this stone is a tourist attraction in Cusco, even when we know pretty much nothing about the stone. Well, it is quite a photogenic stone!
