Temple of the Moon
Ceremonial cave carved from a single limestone hill, its walls shaped into crescent niches and altars.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to the Temple of the Moon in Cusco starts with a number that won't add up: zero blocks, zero stones stacked, because the entire site was carved directly out of a single limestone hill. Killke masons first opened a natural cleft in the rock, and centuries later Inca builders kept polishing what was already there rather than rebuilding it in their own style, cutting niches, stairs and a crescent wall into the living stone. A gap in the rock ceiling opens straight above the carved altar, and five centuries of rain have worn some of the carvings almost featureless.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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