From the ancient Quechua language, the name of Cusco is translated as «the center of the Earth». The Incas believed that the center of the planet was located in the area of the modern Plaza de Armas. Therefore, it was around here that they built their temples, and the rulers erected their magnificent palaces.

The Europeans who came to Peru quickly destroyed all the achievements of the Inca Empire, including their sightly architecture, and began to build their mansions and churches on the foundations of ancient buildings.

A striking example of such an unusual symbiosis of cultures is the Convent of Santo Domingo, which still hosts the ruins of the once-grand Coricancha temple of the Incas.

The Temple of Inti the Sun God (it is the full name of the temple of Coricancha) was built by the Incas in 1438. It immediately became the most important religious site in the empire and one of the largest observatories, where they studied the heavenly bodies and compiled calendars important for their people. But the invading conquistadors destroyed the temple, plundered the gold, and in 1633, built a Catholic cathedral on its ruins. The cathedral stood for less than 20 years, as in 1650, an earthquake damaged it significantly. The ruins of the Coricancha temple, on which the cathedral was built, survived.

Today, the Convent of Santo Domingo is a unique monument that combines the history of two cultures: the ruins of the ancient Temple of the Sun and the Catholic cathedral, built by the colonists and rebuilt after several earthquakes.

The renowned Inca masonry is the main attraction of this historic site. It amazes with its precise symmetry and shape of flagstones that fit one another perfectly, and exquisite stone carvings that decorated some of the ancient temple elements. And above, there stands an equally beautiful colonial-style temple, which in the 17th century served as the center of the new faith, a monastery, and a meeting place for the Europeans who settled there.

In the 20th century, the historical complex was restored, and detailed descriptions of the most important artifacts appeared by them. Now, the Convent of Santo Domingo, built on the ruins of a temple, is the main attraction of the ancient city of Cusco, the center of the Inca universe.