Tiwanaku Center Touristic

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Tiwanaku

San Pedro Church
Pumapunku Pyramid
Akapana Pyramid
Bennett Monolith
Sukakollos
Gateway of the Sun
Kantatayita
Kalasasaya
Semi Sub-terrain Temple
Putuni and Khery Qala

Tiwanaku is the oldest culture of South America, and it emerged from the areas that surround the Titicaca Lake, and from the Andes. The city, which has an extension of 600 hectares, is clearly divided into 2 major sections, the sacred or civic area, where ceremonies were conducted, and the site for the main temples and monuments, which are spread in a set of flat areas and open spaces, and in this area there is also a “profana”, an area where some of the more domestic constructions were placed, including residential homes and the artisans quarters, where most of the every day furniture and tools were made.

Starting from its center in the Altiplano, Tiwanaku was a culture that was constantly expanding, and it had projections to move towards the occident of what today would be the Bolivian territory, and also towards the Northwest of Argentina and the Litoral area (Southwest), towards the coast of the Pacific Ocean. This culture became a center of cultural irradiation, and it eventually became the most powerful cultural root of the Andes. The knowledge that they possessed, the development of technology that they had, their overall wisdom and deep respect towards the environment, all of these elements helped to create a harmonic social order.

The city of Tiwanaku was completely planned. All of its buildings have a perfect cardinal orientation. Between the pyramids of Akapana and Pumapunku, there is a relationship of 45º, which is proof of the mathematical skill that they applied when constructing this ceremonial site.

Pumapunku is a pyramid that has a “T” shape; it has an internal space that used to be like an internal deep-set patio. It also has four large platforms, which are the base of closed and roofed buildings made of stone. In front of every platform, there are the remains of doors that would provide access to the higher portions of the construction, and it appears that at one time they were actually covered in gold, and even held with nails made of gold.

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Attractions in Tiwanaku :

San Pedro Church

This church was built with huge blocks of stone that were taken from the ruins of Tiwanaku. Even though these blocks of stone were worked on and adjusted according to the style of religious-European architecture, it is still clear at plain sight the extraordinary work done on the stone at the hands of the native residents of Tiwanaku. This amazing construction is located on the town’s main square.

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Pumapunku Pyramid

The “Puerta del Puma” (Puma’s Gate) is a temple that is very similar to the one in Akapana, but it is much smaller. It has been placed at a certain distance from the main archaeological group. It is a terrepleined or embanked temple and it is the second monument of importance in this area. Both pyramids have a relationship of 45º between each other. In the Eastern sector there are four enormous Lithic platforms some of which weight almost 125 tons.

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Akapana Pyramid

This is the most important monument of the city of Tiwanaku. It is a pyramid that has been built with a series of flights of stairs on every side; it has 7 platforms in total, and an approximate height of 18 meters. The base also has a series of steps; it was built over a quadrilateral, which is about 114 meters in diameter. The construction itself was done over a slope, to take advantage of this natural form.

The top portion, which used to have a closed temple, was destroyed by the Spaniard Oyardeburu, in his search for gold. Since then, Akapana has been constantly sacked, only a few areas of the pyramid have been kept intact.

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Bennett Monolith

This may be the most important expression of a Lithic-style statue in Tiwanaku. It was initially placed in the center of the Semi-sub terrain temple; this was done during the classical period.

The "Pachamama" Monolith - named Benett, can be seen in the New Museum of Lithic Pieces. This particular piece is 7.30 m. high and weights about 20 tons.

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Sukakollos

There are also several cultivation platforms that were constructed near the Titicaca Lake, towards the Northern section of Tiwanaku. These platforms are formed by several rectangular parcels that are 4 meters in width. Their total length is approximately 200 meters, they are in Pampa Koani.

There are also channels used to distribute water and nutrients to the lots of land; this has been determined to be like that, mostly because of the organic residue and other deposits found in this area. These interesting constructions helped to create a benign microclimate and they also helped to protect the crops from the severe cold season that affects the area even to this day. This was possible thanks to the heat absorbed during the day that was stored in these constructions.

The experimental harvesting that was done in these terraces have yielded up to 42 tons of potatoes per hectare, an amazing production, in comparison to the regular 6 tons per hectare that are normally produced.

The agricultural technology of Tiwanaku consisted in the construction of climate modifiers of the lowlands that were normally flooded. In order to make adequate usage of this land, platforms were built in the middle of a system of water channels. This well-advanced system helped to provide a surplus in their agricultural production, strong and stable enough to export to other neighboring communities; this provided to the people of Tiwanaku an enormous economical power, which was the basis for the creation of their Empire.

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Gateway of the Sun

This may be the greatest sculpture in Tiwanaku. The carvings that cover most of its surface represent a very complex calendar that has combined religious icons and the Inca’s own understanding of the Cosmos. In the central section there is the humanized figure of the Aymara God, which is standing over a pyramid of 3 platforms, which is a geometric representation of the Earth. In the lower portion of the wainscot there are 11 smaller suns which represent the eleven months of the Inca’s calendar and the position of each one of the solstices, this area has been defined as Willka Kuti or the figure that announces the return of the Sun.

On each side there are three rows with carved images, each row has 16 images in total of winged figures that have human heads, with the exception of the middle row, which presents the same type of image, but with heads of condors. The opposite side is simple and it presents elements that are believed to be of ceremonial usage.

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Kantatayita

This is an Aymara word, which means “Lady of the Dawn” and it is a temple that was constructed in the top portion of the platform. The remains of its very thin walls are still visible, most of which still have some carvings of the Andes Cross left on them. In the interior of this construction, there is what has been named a “stone maquette”, a model of the temple itself in smaller proportions done at scale.

In front of the platform there is a door, the lintel of doorhead which has a double curvature, and it used to be covered in gold. Evidence of this could be clearly seen in the chips and cracks that are all around the door’s frame. These marks were made by the Spaniards in their attempt to extract the embedded pieces of gold that covered the structure.

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Kalasasaya

This is a terreplein temple, which is believed to have been dedicated to the Sun and it had an astronomic function. Tiwanaku’s construction has a very precise cardinal orientation, which surpasses the East-West angles and dimensions. The construction itself is basically a wide platform with an internal patio or courtyard, which has been circumscribed or built inside a larger patio.

The West wall had several balconies, it also used to have 11 pillars that would mark the various positions of the sun throughout the year, this would also indicate with amazing precision the equinoxes and solstices. In the interior of Kalasasaya there is the Ponce Monolith (which has been placed at the center of the internal patio), the Fraile Monolith (at an opposite end) and the famous Gateway of the Sun. The anthropomorphic steles or monoliths hold ceremonial cups or “kerus”, which are carved in great detail with very distinct icons and designs of the Tiwanaku culture.

The Monolith Fraile, carved on streaked sandstone, shows an enigmatic character that seems to be carrying a staff and a “keru” in its hands; it also has a girdle with images of crabs carved on it, which prove the contact that this civilization had with the ocean.

The Ponce Monolith has delicate iconographic designs, such as winged men, fishes, puma heads and various Camelidae species. Condors, eagles, symbols that have stair designs, all of which represent the art of Tiwanaku.

The Northern-internal wall has conic holes, which have been used to transmit sound; this could be tested by pressing the ear on one of the more narrow cones, which transmit sounds produced on the wider cones on the opposite side of the wall.

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Semi Sub-terrain Temple

This site was discovered in 1903 by the French mission conducted by Crecqui Montfort, and it was identified as a civil-ceremonial temple. In 1932, Wendell Bennett found in the center of the temple the stele that bears his name also known as Barbado Monolith.

The temple was completely dug out and restored by the Center of Archaeological Investigations, during the decade of the 60’s. On its walls, there are a series of carved heads, which are the focus of great attention, these pieces were made on limestone and tuff-stone, these heads have well defined human features that seem to resemble various races. There are also water channels on the top of the construction that help to drain rainfall water towards a subterrain channel.

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Putuni and Khery Qala

On the West end of Kalasasaya there are the ruins of two constructions known as Putuni (Palace of the sarcophagus) and Khery Qala. Throughout this area, it can be seen tiles and squares that were used during the archaeological process of digging out the site. Towards the North of the ruins, there is a Portal carved on andesite, this monument is known as the Gateway of the Moon.

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