Cuzco

Cuzco, Peru, is a busy city situated at the head of a valley in the Andes, 3,400 m/ 11,000 ft above sea level. It has many fine colonial churches, monasteries, and convents, and extensive Inca ruins. The city is still laid out roughly in the shape of a puma, as originally conceived by the Incas.

Capital of Cuzco department, south-central Peru, 560 km/350 mi southeast of Lima; situated in a small valley in the Andes at a height of over 3,350 m/11,000 ft above sea level; population (1993) 255,600. The city is a commercial centre, the hub of the South American travel network, and a tourist resort. Manufactures include woollen and leather goods, beer, and fertilizers. Cuzco was founded c. 1200 as the ancient capital of the Inca empire and was captured by the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro in 1533. It is the archaeological capital of the Americas and the oldest continually inhabited city on the continent.

Cuzcos's university was founded in 1598. There are many churches in the city. The cathedral (1559) is joined with two other churches - Igelsia Jesus María (1733) and Iglesia El Triunfo, which dates back to 1536 making it the city's oldest church. The Dominican priory and church of Santo Domingo, which was built on the foundations of the Inca sun temple of Coricancha, was destroyed by an earthquake in 1650 and badly damaged by a subsequent earthquake in 1950. There are many Inca ruins (Sacsayhuamán, Qenko, Puca Pucara, and Tambo Machay) and in the 1970s and 1980s the Inca irrigation canals and terracing nearby were being restored to increase cultivation. The Sacsayhuamán ruins (an Inca ceremonial sanctuary) to the northwest of the city are the largest and most impressive in the Cuzco area; only 20 % of the original structure remains.