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film the entrance of the cave but failed in main square striking nine. Obviously he We asked him: "Why are the entrances his effort due to the narrowness of the could not have been very far from it. to the tunnel under the main altar of Santo opening and the rubble caused by blasting The account of the officer's experience Domingo now closed?" when the Peruvian Armed Forces closed confirmed once more the existence of a He answered: "Unfortunately the earth- the cave to discourage the curious and the tunnel between Sacsayhuaman and the quake that devastated Cuzco in 1950 forced greedy in search of the treasure. Coricancha, because on the hypothetical —_ us to close the opening in order to strength- The most revealing of the efforts to pen- line that connects those two Inca sacred en the foundations of the church. But all etrate the Chinkana took place in 1700 places also are situated the Cathedral of was not lost by its closing, because when I when a group of several people decided to Cuzco and the little Church of San_ was a student here, and later as Abbot, I ° enter to find the treasure of Atahualpa once Cristobal (see diagram). was able to find out that the tunnel had a and for all. They met a grim fate, and after In 1600, a Jesuit Friar hit the mark in — very special function." several days underground only one of them summing up the whole story surrounding We asked: "What was it?" escaped with his life. He emerged from an the tunnel: "The celebrated cave of Cuzco, Father Gamarra answered: “Every 24th opening under the main altar of the Church called Chinkana by the Indians, was made June, the interior of the tunnel was totally of Santo Domingo, where in Pizarro's time _ by the Inca kings. It is very deep and runs illuminated by the rays of the Sun being rose the majestic walls of the Temple of through the centre of the city, its mouth or reflected on the surface of the famous solar Coricancha. The survivor brought out with entrance being in the fortress of disc and were in time deflected towards the him an ear of corn made of solid gold, Sacsayhuaman. It comes down on the side interior of the Chinkana (cave). There, a doubtlessly one of the objects that once of the mountain where the parish of San _ series of mirrors of highly polished metal- graced the rich garden of the Coricancha. Cristobal is situated and, with varying _ lic sheets conducted the sunlight to the very Another story adds to the credibility of degrees of depth, ends at the site which is fortress of Sacsayhuaman. The Incas were the legend. In 1814, Brigadier Mateo now Santo Domingo and was in Inca times accomplished astronomers and geometers Garcia Pumakahua, a descendant of the the famous Temple of Coricancha. All the and this precision work must have been of Incas, was forced by circumstances to show Indians to whom IJ have spoken have told special significance to them, a significance his superiors part of the Inca treasure. He me that the Incas made this costly and _ which is now lost to us." took one of the high-ranking officers blind- laborious cave to enable their kings and Father Gamarra also uncovered for us folded through the main square of Cuzco to armies to go in times of war from the another enigma consisting of four trapdoors a stream and then, after removing some fortress of Sacsayhuaman to the Temple of located in the lateral naves of the church. stones, proceeded down a stone stairway to the Sun to worship their idol Punchau with- He explained that they are trial excavations Cuzco's underground. Once there, the out being detected.” which uncovered part of the original walls blindfold was removed and the officer It was information such as this that made of the Coricancha. Apparently, three years beheld astonishing riches: large silver me and my friend, Vicente Paris, decide to ago, a team of Peruvian archaeologists pumas with emeralds for eyes, 'bricks' undertake a serious investigatiop of this decided to demolish the convent of Santo made of gold and silver, and other objects particular tunnel. And so, in 1993 we trav- Domingo to recover from the subsoil the of incalculable value. Although unsure of elled to Cuzco, Peru and confirmed the remains of the sacred Coricancha. his whereabouts, he later recalled that existence of a subterranearn chamber Father Gamarra also told us that there is __ while looking at the treasure he had heard beneath the main altar of the Church of a stream originating in the main square of clearly the clock of the cathedral in Cuzco's Santo Domingo, which originated the leg- Cuzco which runs by the old walls of the end of the man who, hav- Coricancha, beneath the church. This last ing entered the tunnel in _ bit of information, far from being marginal, Sacsayhuaman, ended up shows us the existence of at least one nat- in Santo Domingo. More ural passage connecting the main square, recently, in March 1994, _ site of the cathedral, with the Coricancha. we returned to Cuzco and Some Spanish chroniclers, like Cieza de not only reconfirmed the Leon, tell us that the main square of Cuzco existence of the chamber was in their time a lake or swamp which and the mouth of the was later drained by the Inca Sinchi Roca. blind tunnel, but also we Today two rivers still cross the city and, | learned about the function covered by flagstones, function as city and use of the tunnel from _ streets. Father Benigno Gamarra, Everything seems to point to the fact that Abbot of the Convent of _ the Incas made use of a natural cave to lay Santo Domingo. Here it out the tunnel between Sacsayhuaman and is: “Your information is the Coricancha. Garcilaso de la Vega hints correct, but the tunnel in at the existence of a complex system of question extends much siphoning viaducts of the Incas which beyond Sacsayhuaman, seemed to have crossed the River Saphi since it ends in some and served to connect openings in the rock place underneath Quito, and man-made roads. in Ecuador!"' In spite of all this information, there is streets. Everything seems to point to the fact that the Incas made use of a natural cave to lay out the tunnel between Sacsayhuaman and the Coricancha. Garcilaso de la Vega hints at the existence of a complex system of siphoning viaducts of the Incas which seemed to have crossed the River Saphi and served to connect openings in the rock and man-made roads. In spite of all this information, there is 66 « NEXUS FEBRUARY - MARCH 1995