Cuzco City Virgins of the sun
Yet another Christian enclave formerly used as an Inca holy place is the Santa Catalina Convent, which centuries ago housed a different group of cloistered women – the Chosen Women, or virgins who dedicated their lives to the sun god. Now a colonial-style building occupied by Roman Catholic nuns, this was home to 3000 women who were trained to serve their heavenly husband – the sun, or attend to the pleasure of his earthly son, the Inca.
The mingling of indigenous and Spanish cultures resulted in the dark religious painting style touched with brushings of gold known as the School of Cuzco. In these paintings you will see archangels dressed as Spaniards and carrying European guns, surrounded by cherubs with Indian facial features. School of Cuzco paintings of the Last Supper show Christ and his Indian-looking apostles dining on roast guinea pig or Peruvian cheese. Scenes of the crucifixion depict Christ hung on a cross decorated with Indian symbols.
There is a fine collection of this art which flourished from the 16th through 18th centuries, at the Museum of Religious Art on Calle Palacio heading downhill from the Plaza de Armas. This building where the palace of Inca Roca once stood, has Moorish features and complicated carvings on its doors and balconies. Outside is the Twelve Angled Stone, a masonry masterpiece of Inca architects, proving that no stone was too irregular to be fitted without mortar.