THE CORICANCHA : A Temple for the "TRUE GOD" of the Incas.

The implications that the INCAS were simply sun-worshippers is clearly not accurate. There is more to this Temple than sun worship. 

The name "CORICANCHA" means "The courtyard of cosmic gold" in Quechua, the language of the Incas. It was dedicated to worship the "TRUE GOD," the most important deity in the Inca's pantheon of deities. 

In addition to hundreds of gold panels lining its walls, there were life-size gold figures, solid-gold altars, and a huge GOLDEN SUN DISC. 

The sun disc reflected the sun rays and bathed the Temple in light. The image that it gave to the people of the Andes was that the Spirit of the Creator was manifested through the person acting as ruler of the empire. During the summer solstice, the sun shone directly to a niche where only the Inca chieftain was permitted to sit.

An interesting drawing of an Incan altar piece inside the remains of the Coricancha give us a clear understanding of what the Incas were worshiping at the Temple of the "True God."

Garcilazo de la Vega, a Peruvian writer describes it in the following excerpt: ..."what we shall call the high altar, although this expression did not exist among the people of the Andes, was placed to the EAST, and the roof, which was very high, was of wood, covered with straw. The four walls were hung with plaques of gold from top to bottom, and the likeness of the light emitted by the sun topped the high altar. This likeness was made of a gold plaque twice as thick as those that paneled the walls, and was composed of a round face, prolonged by rays and flames.... The whole thing was so immense that it occupied the entire back of the Temple."

The Golden Disc in the drawing is shaped in a distinct oblong shape, and is separated from the self-evident sun-disc. It also has a complex set of celestial symbols of which the sun is simply one of several. The elliptical disc appears to be part of a celestial Trinity. In the center of the diagram of the High Altar is a massive Golden Ellipse. To either side of it are the sun and the moon and depictions of Venus as the morning and evening star. The ellipse is surmounted by a cross of stars and further stars lie below it. This celestial scene focuses upon the ellipse as the all-important source of the Universe, the True God.

The ellipse was the "True Sun" of the Inca. It was the image of the Creator, called VIRACOCHA, translated as "Ruler of the entire Universe." The "True Sun" to make it distinguished from our familiar luminary