Visualizing Inka Cusco

Instituto Cervantes in Manchester and Leeds present the project "Visualizing Inca Cuzco", initiated in 2010 under the direction of Dr. Ricardo Mar, SETOPANT-URV, in a talk by Dr. José Alejandro Beltrán Caballero.

One of the main objectives has been the reconstruction of the ceremonial center of the ancient capital of Tawantinsuyu, an arduous task, made difficult in the first place by the colonial and republican constructions that today cover the remains of the ancient city. It is necessary to assume the current circumstances that condition this work and to make an effort to extract the maximum yield from the archaeological and historical resources available. After all, the objective of reinterpreting the Inka city is part of a long tradition of Andean studies, from inside and outside Peru. It is evident that, if the state of conservation of the buildings of the ancient capital were similar to that of Machu Picchu, we would not be discussing the limits and possibilities of its virtual reconstruction. However, it is precisely the continuity of the urban fabric of the city and its cultural vitality that justify the proclamation of contemporary Cusco as the archaeological capital of South America. Some of the most significant elements of the city's past are still part of its present: water, roads, terraces and settlements of the ancient capital of Tawantinsuyu.

This project has been sponsored by the National Museum of the American Indian - Smithsonian Institution of Washington, the Tinker Fellowship of Stanford University, the Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo (AECID) and has been part of meetings and publications in Spain, Italy, USA, Peru and Colombia.

José Alejandro Beltrán-Caballero is an architect, PhD in Architecture (Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña), associate researcher at the Seminar on Ancient Topography (SETOPANT) and lecturer at Rovira i Virgili University (Tarragona, Spain). As part of his research field, ancient settlements in relation to water management and landscape interpretation, Dr. Beltrán-Caballero was Visiting Scholar at Stanford University, has lectured in Spain, Italy, United States, Colombia and Peru and has also collaborated in projects for the virtual reconstruction of archaeological sites in Europe (Tarragona and Rome) and South America (Cusco).