The Black Madonna of Częstochowa in the Temple of the Sun

The Coricancha (from the Quechua Quri Kancha, meaning "golden enclosure") in Cuzco, Peru, was the most important temple of the Inca Empire. It was built in 1200 on the site of the first settlement. Originally named Intikancha or Intiwasi, it was dedicated to Inti - Inca sun god. Pachacutec (ca. 1400 - ca. 1471), the ninth ruler of the Inca state, enhanced the sacred importance of the site. He had Cuzco redesigned in the shape of a puma, an ancient symbol of power associated with lunar cult, with the Coricancha placed exactly under the puma's tail, where its sexual organs would be. In addition to the apsidal sun temple, the complex included four smaller temple complexes surrounding a courtyard on three sides. Calcite and andesite stones were used to create perfectly smooth walls, fitted together with surgical precision, without mortar, on both the exterior and interior walls.

Most of the temple was destroyed after the 16th-century war against the Spanish conquistadors, with settlers also dismantling it to build their own churches and residences. In 1533, when the Spanish demanded a ransom in gold from the Incas for the life of their leader Atahualpa, most of the gold was collected at Coricancha. Much of its masonry served as the foundation for the 17th-century Dominican Convent, rebuilt after the 1650 earthquake that destroyed the first convent. This Inca structure withstood three earthquakes (1650, 1749, and 1950) without major damage, while later additions were shattered.

One of the main altars of the Dominican Church on the site of Coricancha is dedicated to the Black Madonna of Częstochowa, a copy of the miraculous icon located in the most important and most frequented Polish Marian shrine at Jasna Góra, accompanied by effigies of Saint John Paul II (1920-2005) and Saint Faustina Kowalska (1905-1938). In another chapel there is an altarpiece dedicated to Divine Mercy, with a copy of a painting by Adolf Hyła (1897-1965), a version of the image based on Kowalska's vision of Jesus in 1931.

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© Marcin Latka

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