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Like Mount Shasta, there are various versions for how the name Ollantaytambo originated:<\/p>\n
– In the language of the Quechua, the name comes from \u201cOllanta\u201d, a well-known Inca general, and the word \u201ctambo\u201d, a Spanish derivation of the Quechua word \u201ctampu\u201d, or city. Thus it means \u201ccity of Ollanta\u201d.<\/p>\n
– In the language of the Aymara, Ollantaytambo is pronounced \u201culla-nta-wi \u201d and means \u201cplace to look downwards\u201d. Here, the word \u201etambo\u201c for city was also added later.<\/p>\n
– Locals correspondingly describe Ollantaytambo as \u201cplace of my God\u201d or \u201cstorehouse of my God\u201d.<\/p>\n
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There is probably a reason why the extensive valley system through which the river Vilcanota flows from Pisac to Machu Picchu is known as the \u201cSacred Valley of the Incas\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Urubamba Valley itself, where the megalithic complex of Ollantaytambo can be found, is called \u201cSacred Valley\u201d.<\/p>\n
It lies within the Andes Mountains\u2018 stony eastern foothills between the two mountain ranges of Vilcanota and Vilcabamba, and is very fertile because of the Urubamba River, a constant level of humidity and the moderate climate.<\/p>\n
The place has a subtle, light energy that provides a clearing and uplifting effect, particularly in the area of the old core complex from prehistoric times.<\/p>\n
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The city of the same name, Ollantaytambo, is located at an altitude of nearly 2,800 meters in southern Peru, in the Urubamba Province (20 km linear distance from the main town of Urubamba and about 60 km northwest of Cuzco.)<\/p>\n
The megalithic complex rises from the foothills in front of the town, a center and true power place on the earth\u2018s grid, surrounded by Inca complexes.<\/p>\n
As we already know from other places, it is important here to distinguish between the megalithic buildings (sun temple, king\u2018s chamber and water temples) and buildings added and complemented later by cultures which honored, maintained, and expanded the old sites (here, the Incas).<\/p>\n
The official historiography attributes the entire complex of structures, called \u201cfortaleza\u201d (fortress) because of its unusually strong walls, to the Incas. Indeed, the site is located at a strategic spot, commanding the valley. This is probably also a reason why the Incas expanded the original sacred site to create a huge complex. Below the core complexes, there are buildings for administration, agriculture, and the military immediately adjacent to the sacred buildings, which, along with the terraces and the narrow alleyways of the town\u2018s prehistoric core, are almost in their original condition.<\/p>\n
Located above the core complex on the plateau are simple houses, fortified walls and the \u201cmausoleum\u201d carved into the rock. From there, a steep path leads up to the Intiwatana, the \u201cplace to which the sun is bound\u201d. It was used for astronomy, for the observation of the sun, moon, planets and stars, according to which the Incas determined the proper times for sowing and harvesting.<\/p>\n
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– Corresponds to the solar plexus chakra, power<\/p>\n
– Color: golden yellow<\/p>\n
– Dominating elements: earth and fire<\/p>\n
– Corresponding place: Sete Cidades, Azoren<\/p>\n
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Through the terraces, exactly 200 steps lead up to the sacred area and end in front of the large megalithic gate, the entrance to the Manaracay.<\/p>\n
It is necessary to pass through this room to reach the most holy place. Depending on the source, it is called \u201cking\u2018s chamber\u201d, \u201cfore-temple\u201d or \u201ctemple of the ten alcoves\u201d because ten alcoves were elaborately built into the walls in a polygonal construction. Some sources say that statues of gods were placed in those alcoves, while others lean towards explanations that lie in the magical numbers or the holy geometry, analogous to the units of ten, eleven, or twelve, which we also found at the three megalithic pyramids in Egypt.<\/p>\n
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So far, no subterranean structures have been found or substantiated.<\/p>\n
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Here, the monoliths on the \u201ctemple hill\u201d are really the main structures and form the megalithic core of the complex. The temple sector encompasses the sun temple\u2018s monoliths to the south, the middle sector, and the northern sector of the dead (the Incas\u2018 tombs). We read from many historians that many buildings were never completed; often there is only one side, or the interior is incomplete. However, it is obvious that later occupants destroyed the sun temple, because the smaller stones that were part of the complex can be found all over the terraces, the piazza rearrangements at the bottom of the hill, and even in the church and the town hall.<\/p>\n
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The core of the megalithic complex is located nearly at the top of the plateau and is called \u201csun temple\u201d, \u201croyal house of the sun\u201d or \u201clight castle\u201d.<\/p>\n
To the left of the sun temple are several additional walls made of large granite blocks; these walls are followed by the actual main wall made of six enormous and artfully polished monoliths of red granite (like those in Giza and Tiahuanaco). They are between 3.4 and 4 m high, 1.3 to 2.2 m wide, 0.7 to 2 m thick and weigh 40 to 50 tons each. With their enormous size and weight, it remains unclear to this day how the builder separated those huge stone blocks in the steeply sloping stone quarry on the other side of the valley and transported them across the valley, and back up the steep hill to this place \u2013 all without using technological devices, wheels, or pulleys. It is also unclear why the monoliths were not assembled smoothly, as is usual for Inca constructions, but joined with long stone joints that fit exactly on both sides, which is unique and involves immense construction challenges. Equally unusual are the straight lines that were cast in bronze in T-shaped joints to hold the wall together.<\/p>\n
The only other site known to exhibit this method of construction is Tiahuanaco, so archaeologists assume that builders were brought from there and from Pachac\u00fatec to work as forced laborers on this wall. They do not consider the possibility that the same architects and builders might have been involved in building all these megalithic structures. They argue that the final work must be attributed to the Inca, with the smoothly polished connections and exteriors and the three symbols carved out of monoliths, which is incorrect because, without doubt, those symbols represent the three states of the Andean world handed down from Tiahuanaco: the \u201cHanan Pacha\u201d (sky, spirit), the \u201cKay Pacha\u201d (earth, matter) and the \u201cUkhu Pacha\u201d (underworld, underground).<\/p>\n
It is therefore more likely that the builders were the same or that the symbols were handed down in both cultures. Furthermore, those symbols \u2013 and the bronze castings \u2013 might simply have been added by the Incas afterwards, just as the Pharaonic dynasties in Giza arranged their statues and applied other signs (such as the only hieroglyphics next to the entrance of the small pyramid, Mykerinos).<\/p>\n
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