Tall Stories 438: Cusco’s duality

荒诞故事 438:库斯科的双重性

The Urbanist

艺术

2024-12-09

5 分钟
PDF

单集简介 ...

Elna Schutz explores how antiquity and modernity coexist in the city of Cusco, perched high in the Andes. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

单集文稿 ...

  • The air may be thin, but the history is deep in the ancient Peruvian city of Cusco.

  • To many, this forms a necessary stop before carrying on their pilgrimage to Machu Picchu.

  • But if you stay a while, you may start to recognize the ever present layers of antiquity and modernity in the city.

  • You're listening to Tall Stories, a Monocle production brought you by the team behind the Urbanist.

  • I'm Andrew Tuck.

  • In this episode, Elna Schutz explores the duality of the city in Peru's Andes mountains.

  • The city of Cusco in Peru is often a stepping stone for travelers needing to acclimatize to the altitude before visiting Matupitu.

  • But in the minds of a bygone civilization, this was the center of the world.

  • This city is in fact a living duality, and its walls are a constant reminder of the varied history of Peru.

  • Every corner of the old town is a reflection of how the ancient Incan empire ruled until the Spanish conquest.

  • To show you this, let's start in the main square of Cusco, the Plaza de Armas.

  • At first glance, it might feel almost like a square in Spain, with its green grass around a bubbling fountain.

  • But the statue on top is of Pachacuti, an Incan emperor.

  • This has been the centre of public life here for centuries.

  • If you take a look at the walls of the shops and restaurants around the square, you'll see that most of them are seemingly built in two layers.

  • The bottom half is made of smooth, strong stone built at an angle, showing you the ingenuity of Incan architecture.

  • A slanted winder base protected against the earthquakes that are frequent in the region.

  • While the Incas typically stuck to more sturdy one storey buildings, the Spanish built on top of it.

  • There's ornate wooden balconies and lots of blue paint, which often was a sign of wealth.

  • Speaking of wealth, imagine a building covered in gold.