HISTORIC ACCOUNT OF THE VOYAGE TO SOUTH AMERICA MADE ON BEHALF OF HIS MAJESTY TO MEASURE MERIDIANS Year 1748
by Don Jorge Juan and Don Antonio de Ulloa
"Stone is the only material used in the building and it is so hard it resembles flint; its color is almost black. The stones are so well carved and coupled that one cannot even insert the blade of a knife. nor can the crevices be compared to the thinnest piece of paper. It almost seems as if the fissures are there to warn the observer that the walls are truly made up of different stones and not of one whole block. There is no mortar that one can see holding the stones together, and on the outside they are carved convexly. At the doorways, the front of the stones are smooth, but the unevenness of the course is easily detectable, as well the asymmetry of the stones themselves, which makes the work even more unique. Following a small stone there is another large one, which seemingly lopsided, over which a tot stone was apparently fitted into the ridges of the other two. But so much jaggedness has been put together with such perfection that wherever one looks, there is unity, precision and meticulousness."
HOUSE OF THE INCA AT CALLO, KINGDOM OF QUITO
Alexander von Humboldt
"When Tupac-Yupanquí and Huayna-Capac, father of the ill-fated Atahualpa concluded the Conquest of the Kingdom of Quito, they not only made magnificent roads in the highlands of the Andes, but also buildings known as tambos. The purpose of these buildings, created at intervals, was to make communications easier between the capital city and the northern-most provinces of the Empire. Inside, the accommodations were such that a prince and his entourage could find abode. These houses of the Inca, known as palaces by other travelers, had been erected several centuries ago along the great thoroughfare joining Cuzco and Cajamarca. The last Conquistadores of Manco Capac lineage only built the buildings whose ruins are now visible from the province of Cajamarca, the southern boundary of the Kingdom of Quito, to the mountains of Los Pastos. Among them, one of the most famous and better preserved is the one in Callo or Caio, described, rather imperfectly, by Jorge Juan, Ulloa and La Condamine in their work Viajes al Perú. The drawing, with which Ulloa pretends to illustrate the layout of the House of the Inca, is so inaccurate that it almost seems purely imaginary."
HOUSE OF THE INCA AT CALLO, KINGDOM OF QUITO
Alexander von Humboldt
"During the trip Bonpland and I made to Cotopaxi, in 1802, we visited the ruins of Peruvian architecture. I myself made a drawing of the House and upon our return to Quito, showed it together with a print from Ulloa´s travels to several Augustinian friars. No one knew the ruins of Caio better than they, as these ruins are located on the same plot of land as their convent. The friars had also lived in a country house close to the side and assured me that since 1750 and even earlier, they had seen the House undergo no changes."
GEODESIC MISSION AND OTHER VISITORS
Antonio de Ulloa, Spanish scientist and member of this expedition, made a singular drawing of the architectural Inca complex in San Agustin de Callo and with fellow scientist, Jorge Juan, wrote a descriptive document of what they observed at the ruins. While the Geodesic Mission was at work triangulating they witnessed two eruptions of the Cotopaxi in 1743 and 1744.
Because of its beauty and historical importance, the Inca Trail, Qhápac Ñan, has been proposed to UNESCO as a World Heritage Site by the six countries through which this trail runs its full length (Colombia, Ecuador, Perú, Bolivia, Argentina, Chile).
ACCOUNT OF THE VOYAGE
by Don Jorge Juan and Don Antonio de Ulloa
1053 "On the latter part of the plain - known as Callo- which runs from Latacunga toward the North, there stand the walls of one of the Palaces inhabited by the Inca Emperors, Kings of Quito. Its name has remained until today. Presently, the Palace is used as country dwellings for the Hacienda of the Fathers of San Agustín de Quito. The beauty and spaciousness of the building cannot be compared to ancient Egyptian and Román constructions, or to those of other Nations. However, in view of the limited knowledge the Indians had of Sciences and Arts; and considering the way their other dwellings are constructed, one can easily detect the Majesty of its Owner by the Palace’s size, materials and arrangement The entrance to the Palace is made through a lane measuring 10.5 to 12.5 meters in length the lane is used as a passageway to a patio surrounded by three large galleries, forming a square and giving way to the other three facades."
PRINT
Archaeological Site
Inca Chapel
Related content
