The City of Rainbow

Chinchero, the city of Rainbow, because it frequently appears with the rains, was the place chosen by Túpac Inca Yupanqui to establish his residence. The town is located northwest of Cusco city, before reaching the Inca Sacred Valley in Peru.

Chinchero was founded in the middle of the most beautiful countryside in order to serve as a resting place for the Incas ruler. Túpac Inca Yupanqui ordered to erect there, shrines, baths, platforms and the great royal palace in the year 1480.



Some constructions were destroyed by the conquerors. On his stay in Cusco, the Spanish viceroy Francisco de Toledo stopped at Chinchero and established a reduction or mission there. In order to represent the indigenous submission, and to extirpate the idolatries, the Viceroy ordered to build at 16th century end, the Church of Our Lady of Montserrat, over the Palace of Tupac Inca Yupanqui. You can see in the picture how intricate and precise the stones of the walls fit, typical of Inca buildings.



Chinchero, is the most typical population of the Incas Sacred Valley. People inhabit Inca constructions almost intact, in the same place where their distant ancestors lived and formed the largest and most prosperous civilization in America.



These communities maintain the Tawantinsuyu organization system. Native settlers, dressed in colorful traditional costumes of daily use, come down from their communities on Sundays and gather in the main square to exchange their products.



Sunday market is a tourist attraction due to the offer of its Inca handicrafts and textiles manufactured in the pre-Columbian style. Chinchero's woman has inherited the art of spinning and woolen weaving for generations. Seeing this group of people with deep cultural roots is an amazing journey into the Inca cultural time.