THE TEMPLE OF THE THREE WINDOWS

Machu Picchu, Peru

The Temple of the Three Windows is in the Inca city of Machu Picchu, one of the seven wonders of the world. From this sacred city, Inca’s priests controlled the social organization, the religious beliefs, and the most important events of the Inca Empire. Inside the Temple of the Three Windows, religious ceremonies were held directed to the mountains that protect Machu Picchu. Ceremonial objects such as glasses, vases, jugs, and decorated fountains have been uncovered in this place. The city thrived from the late 1400’s until the early 1500’s, and then was abandoned as the Spanish conquerors arrived, the city was re-discovered by American explorer Hiram Bingham in 1911.

The Temple owes its name to the three large trapezoidal windows located in the lower wall of its construction. Historians affirm that these three windows represent the three worlds of the Andean ethos. They symbolize the Andean trilogy of the cosmos: The Hanan Pacha, the world above, the Kay Pacha, the world where man plants and animals inhabit, and the Uku Pacha, the world below, or, the world of the dead. The temple is believed to have been built to represent these three worlds. There is also half of a “chacana” in the temple. The concept of “chacana” is the basis for understanding the Inca’s astronomy and worldview. Its existence in this temple shows that the Temple of the Three Windows was a religious place of great importance. The architecture is the most impressive in the city of Machu Picchu. In one of the walls of the temple, the Incas left spaces to form five trapezoidal windows, the three middle windows being the main ones, that marked the sunrise every day.

One is left confounded as to how the massive granite stones here were honed into perfect shapes, and then lifted into place, with no machines or mechanics. The four foot cubes of granite weighs about 4,000 pounds each. The seams between stone are perfect. How?