Experience: History, Archeology and Culture

• 5 hours
• 8 am
• June 24th

What will we do?

The most important festival during the Inca Empire was Inti Raymi, in honour of the Sun, the Incas’ most important deity. It began during the reign of Pachacutec and is celebrated at the beginning of the winter solstice (June), when the sun is farthest away from the earth; that was also the end of harvest time, a sort of new year.

Today history repeats itself thanks to a historical reenactment developed by Faustino Espinoza Navarro, an expert in the Quechua peoples, and historian Humberto Vidal Unda based on the Comentarios reales de los incas by Inca Garcilaso de la Vega (1612). It is held on the 24th of June (Farmer’s Day) and Cusco celebrates a work that involves around 600 actors in a spectacle of colour and dance. The celebration starts in Coricancha, then moves to the Main Square and ends in Sacsayhuaman with the central ceremony.

LimaTours offers the chance to enjoy Inti Raymi from privileged vantage points. If you wish, you can see the start of the celebration from a private room opposite Coricancha; you can reserve the balconies of exclusive restaurants on the Main Square to watch the Inti Raymi pass by while enjoying a delicious brunch, or take private transport to Sacsayhuaman where the principal ceremony takes place and where you can see the event in close-up, opposite the stage.

What does the experience include?

Spanish and english-speaking guide. Box lunch.