ORIGIN OF THE NAMES OF THE STREETS OF COLONIAL CUSCO

PLATEROS:

In this street that at beginning was called of the conquerors, be concetrated on the time of the construction of the convent of merced, the workshop of the spanish teachers; quintin de alonso, cosme de la vega, diego de peralta, javier de urribarry y vascones.

from that time, and until the twilights of colonisaje, the town called street from platerias to which today calls plateros.

PORTAL OF CONFITURIA

The town of in the past called it "portal of fonderias", because poor people and salespersons of the market of the biggest square, they went at nine in the morning and three in the afternoon to satisfy the hunger there in the smoky dives stablished, in time of bishop ocon, a liberated called quarter note maria, settled in that portal being devoted to make nougats and candies(confites) of that which the name of this place comes.

PORTAL OF THE TRADE

It was called this by the stores that there jewish and spanish merchants had, selling overseas merchandise, cloth of segovia and cloth of castile, so dear for the women of the populace, already in the time of the emancipation portal was called of clothes-older.

PORTAL OF THE COMPANY

It call "portal of tailors" until the convent of the jesuit was inagurated, with fifty friars that settled in the three doisters of the roomy convent;whose construction including that of its beautiful temple was directed by the brother pietro and ludovico maleroni architects and priests jesuit, natural of fiesson in italy taking in concluding so vast building single seventeen years, watching over all work the father francisco patiño.

NEW PORTAL

This located in the square of the regoicing, also called" of the town council" ; and its construction, of modern style, on the debris of which was destroyed by the earthquake of 1650, only dates of the year 1876 in that he made begin foundations a surname gentleman lecaros whose death paralyzed the work that was concluded later years, half century ago, for this reason it is called "portal de lecaros" or "new portal".

CUSCO CITY

CUSCO MAIN SQUARE:

It was known in inca times as "huacaypata", a quechua word meaning "place of weeping or meeting", it was an important ceremonial location in which the inti raymi of festival to the sun was held each year. with the arrival of the spaniars, the square was transformed; stone arcades and the buildings which surround it to this day were erected.

THE CATHEDRAL:
the cathedral was built in two stages: first to be built was the triunfo chapel, on top of what had been the suntur wasi (house of god) temple, then the cathedral itself was built on the palace of inca wiracocha. the facada of and interior are in the renaissance style with a wealth of carvings in ceder and alder. the choir and pulpit are particulary beautiful. the cathedral contains an important collection of paintings from the cusco school, as well as repousse silverwork.

NEIGHBOURHOOD OF SAN BLAS:

One of the most picturesque in cusco. called "toqokachi" or "salt hole", it is characterised by its steep narrow streets and beautiful colonial-style houses. it is known as the craftsmen's quarter.

CHURCH OF SAN BLAS:

Founded in 1560, during the colonial period, it has a baroque pulpit which is a masterpiece wood carving. it is attributed to indigenous artist diego quispe tito.

THE CHURCH OF THE COMPANY OF JESUS:

The original church was built in 1571 on land previously accupied by the amarucancha, the palace of inca huayna capac. after the 1650 earthquake it had to rebuild. its original outline and facade are examples of the andean baroque style.
on entering the church the first thing you see are the three-part main altar, the columns, the wooden pulpit and the numerous baroque, plateresque and churrigueresque retables.

SANTO DOMINGO/ KORICANCHA /CHURCH AND CONVENT:

koricancha, according to chroniclers, was one of cusco's most impressive building during the inca period; its inside walls were covered in gold as it was the main temple dedicated to the sun god around 1543, the spanish built a dominican convent and church and over the original structure; they were destroyed in an earthquake in 1565 and were rebuilt in around 1681.

ARCHBISHOP'S PALACE AND THE STONE OF TWUELVE ANGLES:

The palace is an arabesque building from the colonial period, built on the foundations of inca's palace. it is now the museum of religious art. in hatunrumiyoc street is an old inca wall that was part of inca roca's palace and is a superb example of inca stonework.
this structure contains the so-called "stone of twelve angles" famous for its perfect fit within the surrounding masonry.