La sagrada familia, la catedral de Cusco, y la iglesia de triunfo

  The group of churches in la plaza de armas was by far the most salient, outstanding feature of the area. They stood over all other buildings, imposing their authority and presence in an ancient city center that revolved around Catholicism. One large cathedral standing on the southern eastern side was called the Iglesia de la Compania de Jesus, ornate with brick of a copper-like color, and complete with golden accents. The structure was extremely symmetric, with clocks and crosses mirroring each other. Just above the door at the center stood a figure of Jesus or a saint. To the northeastern side stood a monolith of a church, of which we entered. This church was a group of three different churches, which included La sagrada Familia to the very left, la catedral de Cusco at the center, and la Iglesias de triunfo to the very right. The colors and structure of the churches looked marginally similar, all boasting the same dull copper colored brick, with the main cathedral being brighter in brick color, and much larger than its surrounding counterparts. 

         La Iglesias de triunfo was constructed in response to the Spanish victory over the Incan empire at the citadel of Sacsayhuaman. It boasted a symmetric chiseled brick altar on both sides of the entrance, resembling scripture that gave symbolic representations of the Virgin Mary in protecting the Spaniards and assisting them in defeating the Incan empire. The top of the church is decorated with bells and a cross at the center. The inside of the churches was even more fascinating than its exterior architecture. Inside of the Iglesias de triunfo, multiple murals decorated the ceiling and its surrounding walls, depicting several circumstances that generally revolved around the conquest of the Incan empire. Murals depicted Jesus, the virgin Mary, and God as assisting Spaniards - complete with their weapons and horses - in subjugating the Incas. The layout of the church was like any other: rows of seats leading to a platform at the front where a vertically large altar depicted the virgin Mary, Jesus, and several saints. The same alters dotted the periphery of the church, complete with different saints and other ornate features. This was generally the same for la sagrada Familia and the main cathedral, except everything was significantly larger in the main cathedral. It had altars several times bigger than that of the other churches, in addition to similar murals that depicted the subjugation of Incas.

         It was thought-provoking to walk through the churches and see what altars had been constructed. This was formerly Incan territory, and Spaniards had pillaged and desecrated everything belonging to them, creating large catholic altars and murals depicting Incan defeat in return. Incans had also been forced to create such murals depicting their own defeat, considering Spaniards saw it as a dishonor to commit to manually intensive labor. It felt as if the religious and cultural identity in Cusco was highly ambiguous. Once known as the capital of the great Incan empire, huge altars and churches were built for Incans at that time to be forced into worshiping, which has extended for many generations into what is now current-day Cusco. Are locals opinionated in how they feel about these depictions about what is generally the desecration of the sacred values of their ancestors? Moreover, can anything even be done or amended to reduce what is, in my opinion, a huge insult to Incan culture?