Church in the historic center Legendary capital of the great Inca Empire, plundered and rebuilt by the Spanish, Cuzco (also spelled Cusco) is the archaeological capital of the Americas and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the Western Hemisphere. Popularly known as "the navel of the world" for its place at the very center of Tawantinsuyu, Cuzco has traded its bygone imperial dominance for renewed fame as the "Tourism Capital of Peru". Declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1983, the city receives almost a million visitors every year drawn by its fascinating history, Inca ruins and Spanish colonial architecture.

Legend has it that Manco Capac, the first Inca ruler, was instructed by his father Inti, the sun god, to build a temple of the sun in the place where he could thrust a golden staff into the earth. So it happened that Manco Capac founded the city of Cuzco in the 11th or 12th century; however, the city's glorious transformation into the grand capital of the Inca Empire would take place later on under the ninth Inca ruler named Pachacuti. Pachacuti expanded the empire by means of ambitious military campaigns and developed Cuzco into a structured urban center with specific religious and administrative functions. He constructed some of the city's finest buildings, including the Coricancha temple and a palace adjacent to the Plaza de Armas, and designed the city in the shape of a puma. The city had four districts, representing the four provinces of Tawantinsuyu, each with a road that led out to its respective realm. Each local leader built a house in the quarter of the city corresponding to their province of residence, as they were required to do, and lived there part of the year.

In 1533 Francisco Pizarro discovered the city, captured it and plundered its wealth of silver and gold. He established a municipal government in 1534, but the following year moved his capital to Lima on the coast, which led to Cuzco's decline in importance. The city was later besieged in 1536 by Manco Inca, the puppet emperor Pizarro had crowned a few years prior, in an attempt to drive the Spanish out with an army of over one hundred thousand Inca soldiers. The Spanish were very nearly wiped out, but managed to force Manco Inca to retreat, recapture Cuzco and settle it once again. A new Spanish city was then built on Cuzco's old Inca foundations and many Inca temples and palaces were torn down to make way for churches and mansions. During the colony Cuzco thrived on agriculture, cattle farming, mining and trade with Spain, and many new buildings were constructed, including a cathedral, numerous churches and convents, a university and an archbishopric. In the years that followed the city became a hub of artistic production and suffered two major earthquakes in 1650 and 1950. But it was the rediscovery of Machu Picchu in 1911 that transformed the city more than any other event since the arrival of the Spanish, leading to its rebirth as Peru's leading tourist destination.

Indigenous children wearing traditional clothing Cuzco boasts a number of architecturally significant structures, the most prominent of these being the Coricancha and Sacsayhuamán. An Inca temple dedicated to the sun and creator deities, Inti and Viracocha, the Coricancha was built on sacred ground in the center of an astronomical observatory. True to its name, which means "golden courtyard" in Quechua, the Coricancha was encrusted with hundreds of gold and silver sheets and the Inca ruler would ceremonially plant golden corn stalk statuettes in its terraced gardens. The temple is said to have been "fabulous beyond belief" but much of its gold was confiscated in order to provide Atahualpa's ransom. The Spanish built the cathedral of Santo Domingo on the foundations of this temple and some of the original Inca stone walls can still be appreciated. The Incas were master stonemasons and their mortarless walls of closely-fitted irregularly cut stones have survived devastating earthquakes unlike many colonial buildings. A famous example of this is the twelve-angled stone in a wall on Hatun Rumiyoc street.

Sacsayhuamán is another prime example of Inca stone work. A gargantuan fortress built on a hill overlooking Cuzco, it is said to form the head and jaws of the city's puma design. Many of the stones in its massive walls and battlements are huge boulders and it remains a mystery as to how the Incas transported them. It contains a network of underground passages and a throne of solid carved stone where the Inca rulers once sat.

Aside from the cathedral, Cuzco has three other fascinating colonial churches for the visitor to explore. El Triunfo church, next to the cathedral, was built on top of the Inca armoury where the Spanish took refuge during Manco Inca's siege and were miraculously saved when the fire in the thatched roof went out. Along the southeastern perimeter of the Plaza de Armas, where the Amaru Cancha once stood, lies La Compañía de Jesús church with its grand baroque façade and bell towers. One block down the street at La Merced church, burial place of Gonzalo Pizarro and the two Almagros, visitors can get a glimpse of a solid gold monstrance adorned with jewels and view a collection of religious paintings.

The famous twelve-sided stone Today, Cuzco is the heart of a populous agricultural region where grains and potatoes are grown and sheep, alpacas and llamas are grazed. It lies in a broad Andean valley in southeastern Peru over 11,000 feet above sea level and has a cool, dry climate. While its principal industries include the production of cloth, rugs, tapestries, fine metalwork and beer, city life almost entirely revolves around tourism. It's a vibrant city full of open markets, adobe houses and cobblestone streets where many people still speak Quechua, the language of the Incas. Numerous festivals are celebrated throughout the year, the most important of these being the Inti Raymi, the weeklong Festival of the Sun that is now the second largest festival in South America.