At 5 minutes to the northeast of Cusco, by asphalted road, we can find the two archaeological sites of Qenqo. Although the original name of this worship place it is not known, the Spanish conquerors decided to name it with the quechua word Q'enqo, that means "labyrinth", maybe because the labyrinthine galleries or because the small canals shaped in zigzag in the rocks.

The Spaniards classified this place as an amphitheater, maybe because it shows a semicircular construction. Actually it is unknown the finality of this site, it was probably an altar, a tribunal or an Inca grave, maybe from Pachacutec. Supposedly it was one of the most important sanctuaries of the Inca Empire.

There two places: Qenqo Grande, which is located near the road that goes from Sacsayhuaman to Pisac; and Qenqo Chico, which is located at 350 meters to the west from the latter, on the Socorro hill and its extension exceed 3,500 square meters.

QENQO GRANDE

THE AMPHITHEATER
During the inca stage this was a place to celebrate public events. It is a huge semicircular area of 55 meters of length and 19 uncompleted niches distributed along the wall. Some researches affirm these niches were distributed around the amphitheater in the way of seats to the worshiped entities, but according to recent investigations it is more probably they were really bases of a great wall. In front of the open ground there is a big stone block of 6 mts height that lays over a solid rectangular pedestal. It is possible it was a gigantic zoomorphic sculpture. The lack of precision is caused by the persevering colonial friars that pursued idolatries. This complex also contains a semicircular amphitheatre that surrounds a natural carved stone. It also has a rocky projection decorated with a passage that leads to an underground hall, a complex of cultivation terraces, rooms and a drainage channels system destined to evacuate the water from the area.

THE CARVED STONE
Behind that stone there is a rocky headland with a staircase carved on the bare rock that leads to the top. In this place starts the little zigzag channel that, as of a minor hole, descends and then bifurcates into one branch that follows the slope and a second one that goes up to the underground chamber inside the rocky place.

It could have been used to transport the votive chicha (beverage from corn) and the blood of llamas sacrificed in some ritual that has not been clarified yet.

At the very top there are still some carved remains of what could have been a condor whose head was broken, and a puma. We can also appreciate the remains of a room.

INTIHUATANA AND THE ASTRONOMIC OBSERVATORY
Two short cylinders stick out of the leveled and polished bare rock. This could have been an intihuatana, which is translated as "place in where the sun is tied"; in other words, it enables to calculate the sun position. We still don't know how this device worked it is an enigma till these days, but there are conjectures about an astronomic observatory used to determinate the seasons, solstices and equinoxes, and as a temple in this place the sun, moon, venus and stars were worshiped.

CUSILLUCHAYOC
It is a Quechua name that means "temple or place that has monkeys". It is located at 500 meters straight to the east of Qenqo Grande. It has a carved stone of almost two meters high in which some people see the shape of a frog. In this rock we can still see relieves of snakes and monkeys that could have served to name the place.

THE UNDERGROUND CHAMBER
It is remarkable the stone carving carried out in this place, through which floors, ceilings, walls, tables and niches were thoroughly carved on the bare rock. Undoubtedly, it was a worship place for secret and hidden rites. The place builders completed its composition with service rooms in the perimeter, cultivation terraces and channels to evacuate the rain water.

THE ZIGZAGGING GUTTER
It is located very close to the Intiwatana. Víctor Angles, a historian from Cusco, describes it as follows: ".it starts in a small hole, travels on chute and broken line and then bifurcates; one of the branches transported the liquid up to the Underground Chamber or Sacrifice Room". The liquid could have been the blood of sacrificed beings (animals and/or humans) for gods.

THE ROOM OF MOURNING
The mystery of the Incan culture is what makes it so attractive. Its religion and worship mystery constitute one of the aspects with regard to which specialists had not come to an agreement yet. Likewise, doubts related to the "Sacrifice Room" had not been clarified. It is an underground chamber entirely made of a gigantic rock. The floor, ceiling, walls tables, cupboards and bays comprised in the lower part of the large rocky place are totally carved. It is said that this underground chamber could have been used to embalm Inca noblemen; but it is also possible that human and llama sacrifices had taken place here.

QENQO CHICO
This place is much more destroyed than Qenqo Grande, it shows high walls, circular trace and the same careful carve in the rock.

It is located at the edge of the Archaeological Park of Saqsaywaman, on a small hill called Socorro, a temple or oracle. It is one of the temples of the Inca Empire that was tied to the Koricancha along one of the cardinal lines of the vast Tawantinsuyo area.

This small archeological site is made up of limestone. It has two parts, one called the great carved rock and a semicircular plaza. In the rock section we can see a natural formation on which we see carved figures of animals, such as reptiles, felines and two cylindrical figures or shapes. This rocky platform could have functioned as an astronomical observatory similar to those located in Pisac or Machu Picchu. In another part of the rock area we can see a figure in bass-relief with broken lines that ends in a hole that leads to an underground gallery located below the rock in which we find square and rectangular carvings facing an open plaza-like space a with many engraved figures. The semicircular plaza, also called the amphitheater, is made up of an open space adjacent to the big rock in the background you can catch a glimpse of a big niches.