Today, the golden sun disk has been replaced by sunbathers. Much of Coricancha was filled with gold, with one chamber containing a giant sun disc, reflecting sunlight that illuminated the rest of the temple. In fact, it was the only temple that exists only for religious ceremonies and was the most sacred temple of all the Incas.
A digital reconstruction of the room when it was filled with gold, according to the description of Cristóbal Estombelo Taco, Inka taytanchiskunaq kawsay nintayacharispa, Instituto Superior Pùblico La Salle - PROYECTO CRAM II, Urubamba, Cusco 2002 (in Quechua)Teofilo Laime Ajacopa, Diccionario Bilingüe Iskay simipi yuyayk'ancha, La Paz, 2007 (Quechua-Spanish dictionary) Photograph: Efrain Padro/Alamy La construcción del templo religioso tomó cien años, aproximadamente. Coricancha, Koricancha, Qoricancha or Qorikancha ("The Golden Temple," from Quechua quri gold; kancha enclosure) was the most important temple in the Inca Empire.It is located in Cusco, Peru, which was the capital of the empire. The wall was constructed of finely cut parallel-piped stones, taken from a specific section of the Rumiqolqa quarry where a sufficient number of flow-banded blue-grey stones could be mined.Ogburn (2013) suggests that this part of the Rumiqolqa quarry was chosen for Coricancha and other important structures in Cusco because the stone approximated the color and type of the gray andesite from the Capia quarry used to create gateways and monolithic sculptures at Looted in the 16th century soon after the Spanish conquistadors arrived (and before the Inca conquest was complete), the Coricancha complex was largely dismantled in the 17th century to build the Catholic Church of Santo Domingo atop the Inca foundations. Placed at the convergence of the four main highways and connected to the four districts of the empire, the temple cemented the symbolic importance of religion, uniting the divergent cultural practices that were observed in the vast territory controlled by the Incas.As well as housing more than 4,000 priests, the positioning of the temple in relation to the nearby Andes mountains meant that Coricancha functioned as an enormous calendar. After taking Cusco, the Spanish demolished the Coricancha temple and built a cathedral on its site, maintaining only the original stone foundations. Like many ancient cities in the world, Cusco ‘s grandeur was built over centuries. Coricancha, Qorikancha. It was also the religious center, as a sacred place where appreciation was shown for Inti, the Inca Sun God. In fact, it was the only temple that existed only for religious ceremonies and was the most sacred temple of all the Incas.
Similarities are found in the semicircular temples found in the Temple of the Sun in Cusco, the Torreon in Coricancha, Convent of Santo Domingo, and courtyard (A digital reconstruction of its base during the Inca period The astronomy of Peruvian Huacas. Coricancha was the center of Cusco, in more ways than just geographical. Coricancha was the 'center of the center of the universe'. Gullberg S, and Malville JM. The religious facility of Inca, and so it is a synthesis of the local organization, architecture, and religion which had reached its development top by 1438. Garcilaso Temple of the Sun walls were plated with gold. (see Mackay and Silva for an interesting discussion)The complex layout has been compared to the Temples of the Sun at Llactapata and Pachacamac: in particular, although this is difficult to pin down given the lack of integrity of Coricancha's walls, Gullberg and Malville have argued that the Coricancha had a built-in solstice ritual, in which water (or chicha beer) was poured into a channel representing the feeding of the sun in the dry season.The interior walls of the temple are trapezoidal, and they have a vertical inclination built to withstand the severest of earthquakes. The Coricancha (spelled Qoricancha or Koricancha, depending on which scholar you read and meaning something like "Golden Enclosure") was an important Inca temple complex located in the capital city of Cusco, Peru and dedicated to Inti, the sun god of the Incas. The effective organisation of Cusco no doubt played a large part in this success.But the glory of the empire was short lived. In Cusco, every step seems to lead to the discovery of a wonderful archaeological site such as Sacsayhuaman, with its imposing stone walls; or Pisac, where the buildings, plazas and temples display the finest Inca architecture. This beautiful temple can be known as Coricancha, Qoricancha, Qorikancha or Koricancha and was one of the most important and sacred temples of the Inca empire.