- Address: Chavin de Huantar, Peru
- Phone: +51 921 269 592
- Total area: approximately 28 square meters. km.
- Height above sea level: 3200 m
Chavin de Huantar is one of the most ancient monuments of civilization on Earth, a site of ancient settlement located in the Andes about 250 km from Lima , at an altitude of 3,200 meters. The complex served as a place for conducting religious rituals - this is evidenced by the preserved numerous bas-reliefs of jaguars, snakes, condors, images of various hallucinogenic plants used by priests during rituals; Also here were found the tools with which the priests were preparing hallucinogenic drinks from these plants. Scientists believe that in Chavin de Huantar, not only religious rites, but also public gatherings took place. Perhaps the temples and the square served as an observatory.
The architecture of the complex
Discovered Chavin de Huantar was quite accidentally about 100 years ago by a farmer who, during the cultivation of the land, came across a long (more than 2 m) flat stone on which was depicted a mysterious creature. The farmer dug out the find and used it as a countertop, until one day it was seen by the Italian traveler Estella Raimondi. Chavin de Huantar is declared an archaeological reserve and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The total area of the ancient settlement is about 28 square kilometers. km. Buildings and squares form regular squares and rectangles, but this is not the most striking; It is surprising that all of them are oriented along the east-west axis with surprising accuracy. Preserved buildings are bad enough - visiting the complex, you will see the remains of walls covered with earth and grass. In the walls there are rectangular openings (there are more than 20 of them), behind which there are internal rooms; some of them you can visit.
The old temple - the repository of the main artifact of the complex
The old temple consists of two buildings; it was erected around 1200-900 BC. This bulk structure is constructed in the form of the letter U. In the courtyard are located monuments, on which are carved images of jaguars, caimans, condors and falcons. Inside the temple there are two galleries.
At the intersection of the galleries is located "Spear" ("lanson") - stele height of 4.5 meters, made of white granite. Its shape indeed resembles the tip of a spear - it is a complex polyhedron, the top of which is sharpened. On the stele there is an image of a mythical creature that looks like a "cross" of a man with a jaguar and a snake. Perhaps it was the "spear" that was the main shrine of the entire Chavin de Huantar complex. There is also a hypothesis that it also had an astronomical significance, since the word "jaguar" ("chincha" or "chinchai") is inextricably linked with the constellation Orion ("Choke-Chinchai"). The hole in the roof of the temple, exactly corresponding to the "tip of the spear", says that it was built "around" this stela. It is known that the temple served as an "oracle" - believers heard the sound of "talking with them god."
Noteworthy are the outer walls of the Old Temple; once they were decorated with more than two hundred stone heads - human and various animals. Today in its entirety you can see only one of them.
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New Temple
The new church was built much later - scientists date it 500-200 years BC. It is large - 75 mx 72.5 m. Many platforms and hidden passages were found in the temple, thanks to which the priests could appear very effectively - as if "out of nowhere". The total height of the temple is believed to be 13 meters. Inside it were three floors of galleries, stairs and rooms.
In the New Church, many sculptures have been found. In front of him is a rounded square. Near the New Church there is a black and white portal, along which most of the buildings and squares of the settlement are aligned. He, apparently, was of great sacred significance. The portal is made of two types of stone: on the north side is a black staircase made of black limestone, on the southern side for steps, white granite was used. On the sides are two stone round columns of gray andesite, decorated with images of mythical creatures - with the human body, condor wings, the head of a jaguar and the beak of a bird of prey.
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Other monuments
Two more monuments found in the site are the Obelisk of Tello, which is a quadrangular pole with alligators with jaguar fangs, and Raimondi's Stone - it shows a figure with a muzzle of a jaguar (or puma) holding a staff in each front paw . From the Telo pyramid, which was in front of the Old Church, little has been preserved; about the time of its construction, scientists argue - some believe that it was erected after the construction of the New Temple, but most are inclined to believe that the New Temple is much "younger" than the pyramid.
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How to get to Chavin de Huantar?
You can get to Chavin de Huantar from Ouaraz by a regular bus that reaches the modern village of Chavin; from there you will have to walk about a kilometer. You can come from Ouaraz by sightseeing bus. You can get to Huaraz from Lima and Trujillo by regular buses. In the first case, the journey takes about 8 hours.
There is also the pedestrian route of Olleros-Chavin; It starts in the city of Olheos and takes three days. You can find out about this excursion at any of the hotels and travel agencies in Huaraz.
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