Who Built Ñaupa Iglesia’s Mysterious Ruins in the Sacred Valley of Peru?

Showing the location of Cuzco and some of the surrounding sites, particularly in the Sacred Valley to the north

Part of the archaeological center of Ollantaytambo famous for its platforms in the shape of truncated pyramid, and hidden among the Andes of the Sacred Valley, lies the ancient site of Ñaupa Iglesia, located between Ollantaytambo and Urubamba, 18 miles southwest of Mahu Picchu. This mysterious and fascinating site, which has little known history and built long before the Inca, Ñaupa Iglesia (Choquequilla) is an ancient Peruvian ruin in the Sacred Valley of the high Andes. It sits up on the right side of the Huarocondo gorge, above rock, stepped terraces, similar to Ollantaytambo, and overlooks the valley of Pomatales. According to chroniclers, the Inca, at the time of the Conquest, claimed that it was built “in a time before our time, in a world that existed before ours, long before us.” These ancient people were called the Ñaupa by the indigenous peoples of the central Andes.
    Ñaupa Iglesia is known to have predated the Inca—how long is not known, but possibly thousands of years. Ñaupa Iglesia also has some very interesting geometry that shows a detailed understanding of astronomy and vibration. Even more fascinating is that the geometry links Ñaupa Iglesia with Egypt in certain angles and ratios can also be found in the great pyramids of Egypt.
    The site was built up on a near-vertical ravine in the Andes, where they carved an inverted V-shaped entrance into the mountainside. There they placed bluestone rock, which was in stark contrast with the surrounding sandstone. Bluestone contains a type of crystal that was used in early radio receivers for its excellent piezoelectric qualities and it’s magnetic capabilities. According to legend, these mysteriously cut stones exhibit precise cuts seemingly made by some unknown form of ancient high technology. In addition, the site contains a false door of such that is claimed to be an ancient portal into another dimension or world. Legend also claims that false 'doors' such as this are considered to be spirit doors into the spirit world.
    The site has been long used as a sacred ceremonial site, even to this day, where it is said that contact with the spirit world can be made by those who bring offering and make ceremony in this ancient sacred and mystical place. At the entrance to the cave beside the ancient site is a large pedestal stone, called an altar by archaeologists, which was cut from a single stone and known to have celestial alignments.

Site of Ñaupa Iglesia

Originally called Ñaupa Waka because it fits Andean cosmology, when the Inca came to power they called this area Ñaupa Iglesia. Ñaupa Waka was deliberately destroyed; photographs show bore holes and from them it can be clearly seen that large pieces of rock have been removed. Another question is who did this and why?
    Drilling into hard rock needs special tools and these were not available to the Spanish in the 16th Century. There are parallels elsewhere that suggest these holes were probably drilled during construction.

Hole that has been bored into rock at the Ñaupa Iglesia site, where explosive has been used

There really doesn’t seem any alternative, considering the technology required and the depth of the holes. However, they were drilled, it is obvious that some form of explosive, probably black powder, was later placed inside them and the site was “blown up.”
    It might be of interest to know that the name Ñaupa Waka in Quechua means ‘Church’ (Quechua: ñaupa: old, ancient; Waka means place or house). Thus, the Ñaupas are inhabitants of the spirit world. Dominating the site is the cave ceiling forming an inverted ‘V’. It has been cut and smoothed with laser-like precision to create two different yet specific angles: 60 and 52 degrees. There is only one other major place on earth where these two numbers appear side by side, the angle slopes of the two major pyramids at Giza. In addition, there are terraces to grow maize (corn), potatoes, and other plants that were used for offerings to the Divinities.

Door cut into the rock

The bedrock is sliced with great precision to create a shallow door that goes nowhere. The same design appears in ancient Persia and Egypt. Then for good measure, they carved an additional altar with three alcoves into an outcrop of bluestone.
    Built long before the Inca, who merely inherited and maintained a culture that was, by their time of the 16th century, already long vanished. The ancient Aymara claimed such temples were long before the Inca. The style of stonework at Ñaupa Waka is consistent with that found in Cuzco, Ollantaytambo, and Puma Punku, and what these sites have in common is the myth of a traveling builder God named ‘Viracocha’ who, together with seven ‘Shining Ones’, appeared at Tiwanaku after a catastrophic world flood, since dated to 9703 BC, to help rebuild humanity.
    Ñaupa Waka is the same style as Ñaupa Rumi from the Hanan Pacha, the biblical time of paradise on earth. In Inca mythology, this time would have been the time of “land of the heaven above”.

The Stone Altar, perhaps an ancient observatory?

Edwin Salazar Garcés, author of Astronomia Inka, scientific director of Planetarium Cusco, and expert on the relationship between architecture and astronomy says that the axes of the Ñaupa Waka stone altar, projected at certain times of the year, pointed to positions of stars and constellations known anciently.
    In stark contrast with the surrounding sandstone, this single bluestone outcrop, or altar, has been expertly carved in three niches, or open chambers. Each has different dimensions and depths, and with their axes pointing to three different directions facing the horizon. Such stellar alignments were very accurate anciently, while today they have moved a little and do not agree with our calendrical dates due to the precession movement of the equinoxes. They are still, however, verifiable by very close approximation.

The approach up the mountain to Ñaupa Iglesia

 

While this site was built long before the Inka, the information we have begins at that time. Thus, the axis of the carving (A in the photo) has an azimuth of 149 ° and pointed at the exit of the Cruz del Sur (above the hill) on April 26 at 18:15 hours. This was the evening of the day of the Sun Nadir and announced the beginning of the big harvest that happens in the month of May.
    The central chamber (B), has an azimuth of 137 and pointed to the group of stars that form the tail of the western constellation of the Scorpion, and pointed exactly at the star Sargas (Theta star of the Scorpion). This happened on June 21 at 18:30 hours. The day of the beginning of “Inti Raymi”—at the time of the summer solstice—celebration of the god Inti. This same axis receives, at noon on October 30, the light of the Sun that falls in a zenith, just at the moment of the passage of the Sun by the meridian at this place, at 11:30 am.
    A spike that protrudes above the rock roof (which appears to have been the carved head of a bird) points precisely above this central chamber and would have coincided with some ritual ceremony. During Inca times this date belonged to the month of the "Aya Marq'ay", (month of the procession of the dead) and closed with the modern day of the deceased, November 2nd.
    The last indentation (C) had an azimuth of 102 -103 degrees at the exit of the star Sirio (Alpha of the Major Can. This occurred around August 18, at 04:00 hours, the day and marked the time of planting. The same alignment was visible on December 23 at 19:15 hours, the day of the winter solstice. Thus, its energy is certainly stellar and not earthly.
    In addition, there is a rock-cut doorway, marking a gateway into another world. One would actually need magical powers to cross through solid rock, and marked the symbol of a spirit door into paradise.

A most sacred place high up on a mountain top where ancient Peruvians met for spiritual purposes

In addition, this site has the three-step design defining the universe that defines the three kingdoms known to the ancient Peruvians.  view of the Universe and how the three levels of existence are connected to each other. The oldest iteration of the design is carved on a monolith at Tiwanaku, the world's oldest temple complex.
    It might be of interest to consider the words of Nephi “I was caught away in the Spirit of the Lord, yea, into an exceedingly high mountain, which I never had before seen” (1 Nephi 11:10, emphasis added); and “that after I, Nephi, had been in the land of Bountiful for the space of many days, the voice of the Lord came unto me, saying: “Arise, and get thee into the mountain” (1Nephi 17:7, emphasis added), and also “And I, Nephi, did go into the mount oft, and I did pray oft unto the Lord; wherefore the Lord showed unto me great things” (1 Nephi 18:3, emphasis added), and “Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways” (2 Nephi 12:3).
    In addition, those who have been to the House of the Lord might find similarity in the three kingdoms as well as the spiritual symbolic “door.” It might also be recognized that the Heartland and Great Lakes models do not have mountains or “mounts” where such temples and spiritual matters could have been conducted. In fact, the temple in the city of Nephi anciently was identified with being on a hill overlooking the city of Shilom, where temple and high tower were built (Mosiah 11:8-9).