Raqchi

Raqchi is an Inca archaeological site located in the district of San Pedro de Cachas in the province of Canchis, Cusco, Peru. The archaeological site is also known as the Viracocha temple due to one of its emblematic constructions. It is close to the town of Raqchi and the Vilcanota River. The Racchi complex is made up of several different areas each designated with a specific function. The most important structure of the Racchi archaeological site is the Temple of Wiracocha, a huge two-story rectangular structure measuring 92 meters long by 25.5 meters wide. The structure is made up of a central adobe wall between 18 and 20 meters high. height, with an andesite stone base. It has windows and doors, it is flanked on both sides by a row of 11 circular columns with the lower part in stone and the upper part in clay. Before its destruction by the Spanish, the temple had what is believed to be the largest roof in the Inca Empire, having its apex in the central wall that extends over the columns for 25 meters (82 feet) on each side. The large proportions of the temple, and its prominence on the site, explain why the entire complex is also referred to as the Temple of Wiracocha. Towards the east of the temple of Viracocha there are 156 colcas or circular warehouses with 8 m in diameter and 4 m high, located in parallel lines.3 These warehouses were used to store grains such as corn, quinoa, potato, chuño , dried fish brought from the coast, dried alpaca meat, brought from the collao plateau, which were used for ceremonial purposes and mainly to distribute in the different theirs. The deposits are also unique in that unlike other structures around the empire are not squares. Through Raqchi passes the main Inca Trail that ran through the Inca domain from what is now Pasto in Colombia, passing through Quito, Cajamarca, Huanuco, Cusco, and reaching Tucumán, in Argentina, passing through Pucará, Tiahuanaco in Bolivia. On the path of the Inca Trail in the town, a Catholic chapel has been built, probably in the 18th century. Currently, the community of Raqchi offers tourists an ancestral Inca spiritual experience, being an ancient community that keeps its cultural traditions intact, the visitor learns about its history and its Andean worldview, as well as its artisanal and agricultural knowledge.