A Pre-Columbian art attack!

The pre-Columbian artisans of Peru produced some exquisite artworks, particularly ceramics, and I have now been lucky enough to see many of the places where these ancient cultures of Peru built their cities, worshipped their gods and buried their dead, near Chiclayo and Trujillo in the north, near Nazca in the south and here in Cusco.

This afternoon I spent a delightful couple of hours once again admiring their skill, their dexterity, their fine rendering of birds and animals, and the apparent simplicity of their human representation, all in one place. If you ever come to Cusco and you appreciate the art of ancient civilisations, you simply must visit the Museo de Arte Precolombino in Plaza de las Nazarenas, just a short walk from the Plaza de Armas in the central city.

Casa Cabrera, the building that houses the museum, is itself beautiful, and a fine example of colonial architecture, with exhibition rooms on the ground and first floors surrounding a central courtyard. Built in the 1550s, the building originally housed the convent of Santa Clara, then passed into the hands of Don Jerόnimo Luis de Cabrera and Cerda, a city official, hence the name of the building and the coat of arms on its facade. The earthquake that devastated Cusco in 1950 caused major damage to the building but, luckily, the Continental Bank bought Casa Cabrera in 1981 and has since restored it to its former glory.

The museum’s exhibitions include rooms of gold and silver craftworks, shell and bone jewellery, and colonial paintings but, for me, the ceramics of the formative epoch, the Nazca civilisation, the Mochica, Huari and Chimu cultures, as well as those Johnny-come-latelies, the Inca, were the highlight. So, let me take you on a visual tour through Peru’s early art history, from 1250BC to 1632AD.

Cupisnique, formative period, 1250BC - 1AD

Viru, formative period, 1250BC - 1AD

The sculpted bottle on the left depicts a beheaded man, probably symbolic of some religious ceremony. The lips of his inverted head form the mouth of the bottle. On the right, the body of this pitcher is adorned with geometric patterns and a wonderful animal head - probably a feline - decorates the upper body.

These bowls are from the Nazca culture, dating from 1 to 800AD, and they represent trophy heads, taken from the enemy in times of war. The artist didn't possess great sculptural skills but his painting was superb, expressing perfectly the ferocity, pain and strength of the doomed men.

The Mochica culture also existed from 1 to 800AD, but their artisans introduced a radical change into the art of ceramics, attaining high levels of sculptural excellence and pictorial design, as these three bottles clearly show. They are representations of the same individual, presumably someone of high importance, but were crafted by different artists. The Mochica ceramics are the most beautifully sculpted works of Peruvian antiquity. 

These bottles in the shape of cormorants are also from the Mochica period. Their graceful shapes are superb and so fluid. The artist obviously had a talent for observation and for transforming his observations into such fine pieces.

I can't resist including just one more piece from the Mochica culture. This humanised figure of a deer is just so  exquisite, with its plastic shape, its huge ears and bulging eyes, its finely rendered antlers and that wonderfully cheeky tongue. 

The Huari civilisation succeeded that of the Nazca and the Mochica, and spanned the period from 800 to 1300AD. The Huari people spread through much of Peru, from Chiclayo in the north to Nazca in the south, and extending inland to Cusco and beyond. Their civilisation saw the beginning of nationhood in Peru, with their domination in religion and politics.  

The influence of the Mochica culture is obvious in Huari artworks, as you can see with these llama-head vessels. As beasts of burden and producers of wool and meat, llamas were important to the economy of the Huari, so it is no surprise that they were frequently represented on their ceramics. These particular examples are outstanding, for the fluidity of their shapes, the liveliness  of their design and, of course, I just love that tongue.

When the Huari empire came to an end around 1300AD, the Chancay-Chimu culture arose in northern and central coastal Peru. For some unknown reason, their artisans chose to reject the use of colour in their artworks and focused instead on form and on achieving perfect harmony in the proportions of their pieces. Though it may not be entirely realistic in its depiction, the pelican above is a perfect example of this. 

At the same time as the Chancay-Chimu civilisation was flourishing, so was the Inca culture and, eventually, their empire, which lasted from 1300 to 1532 AD, stretched all the way from modern-day Ecuador to southern Chile. Most people know of the Incas' incredible ability to construct magnificent cities, but their artworks are not as well known. Their craftsmen worked in wood, in clay, and in stone, producing stunning works that blend the beauty of art with the practicality of ritual use. Their style is a synthesis of the magnificence of the Pre-Columbian cultures that preceded them.

The influence of the Chimu can be seen in the sculpted bottle, pictured at right. The simplicity of design in this representation of a condor is a good example of Inca ceramic work, and the stylised stone llamas shown below are fine exemplars of Inca stonework. Known as conopas, these llama sculptures were created as offerings to the gods and symbolised the importance to the Inca of the submission of man to the immensity and power of nature. 

Inti Raymi II

I promised more about Inti Raymi in my last post … but the time came and went, and life and work got busy, so I’m only just getting back to that promise. And, in fact, I blogged about Inti Raymi last year – see here http://sconzani.blogspot.com/2011/06/inti-raymi.html – so I won’t actually write much about the event this year.

Instead, I’ll share some photos of the sacred yet profane, solemn yet noisy, almost overwhelmingly colourful event that is the modern re-enactment of the Inca mid-winter solstice celebrations here in Cusco.

The day began at what used to be the Intikancha or Temple of the Sun, but is now called Qorikancha. A large crowd of tourists and locals gathered on all available vantage points to watch the festivities.

This is the WillaqUma, the high priest of the Inca empire. His place was at the top of the only existing wall of the original Inca temple – labelled the apse in my Inti Raymi guide book. He performed various sacred rites, scattering water and food items, presumably as offerings to the gods.

These are some of the sub-priests, who were performing rituals at the foot of the apse.

The Inka (i.e. the Inca emperor) then appeared on top of the apse, to cheers and applause from the Peruvians in the crowd. After scattering seeds, he chanted the salute to the sun: ‘My sun! My father! With great joy we salute you, delighting in the solace of your great light. My sun! My father! My sun! My father! You give strength to the whole world. Sharing with us your warmth! My sun! My father!’

He then tossed his small bowl of corn to the priests stationed below the apse, who broke off kernels of that corn and gave them to the Peruvians who crowded forward to receive these sacred offerings.

This concluded the ceremonies at the Intikancha and the performers then processed to the Plaza de Armas for the next stage of the re-enactment. The company consisted of the imperial army, the Inka and Qoya (the empress, wife and sister of the Inka) and their royal entourage, chosen women and princesses, the priests, musicians of various kinds (including the qhepa – flute – trumpet players and the pututeros – conch shell blowers), and those charged with sweeping the ground and strewing flowers in the street before the Inka.

A mummy from the Qorikancha museum was also brought out for an airing, as well as various bones from other dead Inca ancestors (you could see the small exhibit numbers written on the sides of these).

Whether or not this is a faithful re-enactment of the ancient solstice celebrations is debatable but it was certainly an extremely colourful procession.

Members of the imperial army

One of the army leaders rallying his troops

Qhepa players

A pututero, a player of the large trumpet-sounding conch shells

The man who played the Inka was a splendid performer - good looking, with a proud stance and noble bearing.

Members of another cohort of the imperial guard

Machu Picchu, at last

As I’ve lived in Peru for over a year now, most people assume I’ve been to Machu Picchu several times … but, no. It’s an expensive outing when you only earn a local wage, so I had been saving my journey till a friend came to visit me. That finally happened when my lovely friend Marianne came to Peru a couple of weeks ago so I have at last seen the amazing ancient city of the Incas.

It is difficult to find adequate words to describe this magical site – it really is one of those places you must see and experience for yourself. So, I’m going to let my photos do most of the talking for me.

The setting is spectacular – it’s one hellova place to build a city.

Despite the huge numbers of visitors, it is still possible to find a quiet place to sit and contemplate your amazing surroundings.

The steep steps can be difficult for someone who broke their ankle a couple of years ago and now has a bit of a phobia about falling down stairs – no handrails here!

The sky was the bluest of blues and the air so very clean and fresh.

We even came across some of the local wildlife, a cute little lizard and two vizcachas, basking in the sun’s heat on a pile of stones.

Bolivia day 11: the ruins at Tiwanaku

An archaeological day! Along with about 20 other tourists in a small bus – including the Swiss couple I had spent the day with in Potosi, and bumped into again when back home in Cuzco – we headed out of La Paz towards Lake Titicaca, to the site of Tiwanaku, 20kms from the lake.

The countryside on the way to Tiwanaku

How the site might have been

The Incas are the best known of the ancient South American civilisations but the reality is that, though large, they were only dominant for 170-180 years, whereas the people who created Tiwanaku were active from 1580BC to 1200AD, almost 2700 years. The ruins at Tiwanaku are in the middle of the Altiplano, at 3870 metres above sea level, and consist of one large pyramid and three other temple structures on one side of the small township and another large pyramid on the other side (named Kalasasaya and Pumapunku, respectively). Nothing has been fully excavated and, in the 1970s, some attempts at reconstruction were made, badly, without piecing the stone together correctly and using concrete – so it is difficult to know what is authentic and what isn’t.

We visited the museums at the site first, one that contained ceramic and metal remains, some skulls and textiles – strangely some items looked slightly Asian. The second museum housed the monolithic sculpture for which Tiwanaku is famous, almost 70 metres tall and covered in carvings, some of which have astronomical meanings (e.g. there are 365 circular patterns on the skirt, one for each day of the year). The sculptured figure also has strangely placed hands – the right is depicted in a physically impossible position – and this arrangement is repeated on other sculptures. No one knows why.

The sun gate

Much-weathered carved heads

Interesting carved figures

Another stunning gateway

We walked the site, climbed the tiers of the pyramid (where there’s a constant repetition of seven steps), admired the sun gate (through which the first rays of the sun shine on the morning of the mid-winter solstice on to an obelisk placed directly behind), and puzzled at more astronomical symbols and strange figures carved on another gate.

Next came lunch – and a respite from the blazing sun. The meal was delicious, with quinoa soup, then trout that looked and tasted like salmon, followed by banana and the artificially coloured pink yoghurt that seems to be everyone’s favourite in Bolivia.

Pre-Inca crosses?

More precisely carved stones

After lunch we visited the second part of the site, the pyramid at Pumapunku, where very little has been excavated. However, the large stones visible on the ground have Inca cross (so it’s actually a pre-Inca design?) and other precisely cut carvings, as well as indentations where metal butterfly clips had been used to join the stones together. It was a fascinating glimpse into an ancient culture, about which so little is known, and it will be interesting to see what is revealed in the future.

One small highlight – literally – was the sudden appearance of a wild guinea pig as we walked around. It just scooted across our path and, obligingly, paused long enough for some photos. So cute! I really can’t understand anyone who wants to eat this little creature, though it is as much a favourite in Bolivia as it is in Peru.

We arrived back in La Paz late afternoon and, after dumping some of my gear, I headed out again to explore. I didn’t get to the street with the museums as I’d resolved to, but I walked streets lined with small stalls selling everything from sexy lingerie, a million and one pirated DVDs, food and toiletries, to the fancy petticoats and brightly coloured skirts the women favour in Bolivia. Eventually, my feet would carry me no further and I returned reluctantly to the hotel, weary but entranced after another day of fascinating sights, sounds, smells and tastes.

An alleyway of shops

Tourist tempters!