The most impressive tourist attraction in the North East of Peru is Kuelap, a gigantic monument of 400 million cubic feet of construction material, three times the volume of Egypt’s Great Pyramid.
The archaeological compound is located on a rocky slope 3.000 masl and sits on two huge overlying artificial platforms built stone by stone. Most impressive in Kuelap are the huge defense walls (30 meters high by 600 meters long) around the so-called “lower town” and “upper town”. Thou-sands of broadsides render especial beauty to a construction entirely carved in limestone showing a variety of finishing’s, the best of which are definitely found in the sacred rooms. These ruins –584 by 110 meters at the base- are often com-pared to Saqsayhuaman and Machu Picchu, because of their size and characteristics. Three en-trances to the fortress, two to the East and one to the West, are designed as huge funnel-like hallways ending in a small opening to allow the entrance of just one person at time. Crags and precipices on three of its four sides make the for-tress effectively impregnable.
Inside, the citadel is divided in quarters at different elevations, each comprising several dozen circular buildings of great artistic and aesthetic inspiration. Stones are distributed precisely, complemented by rhomboidal friezes and high-reliefs figures, mostly anthropomorphic. Seemingly reserved to the Chachapoya chiefs, the quarters in the upper town have facades decorated with friezes in geometric fretwork. Curiously enough, the houses and buildings lack windows. Instead, they are protected by watertight stone roofs from the abundant rainfall, (frequent in this area). The visitors’ attention is called to an extraordinary circular construction that stands out in the southern end. Known as the “ink well”, this structures is almost 6 meters high and shaped as an inverted cone. Most probably it was destined to ceremonial use.
