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 One of the most imposing architectonic complexes inherited from the Inkan Society is precisely Saqsaywaman, which because of several of its qualities is considered as one of the best monuments that mankind built on the earth's surface. When the Spanish conquerors arrived first to these lands; they could not explain themselves how Peruvian "Indians" (ignorant, wild, without any ability of logical reasoning, one more animal species according to conquerors) could have built such a greatness. Their religious fanaticism led them to believe that all that was simply work of demons or malign spirits. Still today, many people believe in the inability of ancient Quechuas to create such a wonder, so they suggest that they were made by beings of some other worlds, extraterrestrial beings with superior technology that made all that possible. However, our history and archaeology demonstrate that those objects of admiration are an undeniable work of the Inkas, Quechuas, Andean people or however pre-Hispanic inhabitants of this corner of the world would be named.
The original name of this site comes from the Quechua verb "saqsay"= to satiate or to get satiated, and the noun "waman"= falcon; thence, in a narrow sense as it is found with the imperative verb, it means "get satiated falcon". Some others believe likewise, history demonstrates that Qosqo City had the shape of a puma (cougar or mountain lion) which head was formed by this complex. So, its name is perhaps a deformation of Saqsauma that comes from "saqsa"= marbled, and "uma"= head; meaning like this "marbled head".
 Its construction was began by the ninth Inka: Pachakuteq, that is, after 1438.
The main walls were made with andesites that are blackish igneous stones which quarries are in Waqoto on the mountains north of San Jeronimo, or in Rumiqolqa about 35 Kms. (22 miles) from the city. Limestones are found in the surroundings of Saqsaywaman but they are softer and can not be finely carved as the andesites of the main walls that were of the "Sedimentary or Imperial Inkan" type. Destruction of Saqsaywaman lasted about 400 years; since 1536 when Manko Inka began the war against Spaniards and sheltered himself in this complex. Later the first conquerors started using its stones to built their houses in the city; subsequently the city's Church Council ordered in 1559 to take the andesites for the construction of the Cathedral. Even until 1930, Qosqo's neighbors just paying a small fee could take the amount of stones they wanted in order to build their houses in the city: four centuries of destruction using this complex as a quarry by the colonial city's stone masons.
What is seen today in Saqsaywaman is not an isolated unit but part of a broad complex comprised of several "Wakas", different civil buildings, reservoirs, aqueducts and a considerable territory today known as "Saqsaywaman Archaeological National Park". Towards the Chukipanpa's north there are remains of terraces and diverse walls that were part of the complex. On top of those semi-destroyed terraces is a "stock" protrusion, that is, a natural diorite formation known as " Suchuna" ("sliding spot"; for some people, that formation served as playing toboggans for kids). On its upper side it has some finely carved steps known as the "Inka's Throne"; carvings that according to various authors have some relationship with some key numbers and solar observations. Also in this spot there is a wooden cross memorializing the arrival of Pope John Paul II, who said mass right there in 1985. Further to the north, some remains of a magnificent circular water reservoir were discovered a few years ago; because of its quality that reservoir must had a religious duty. According to some studies, in Inkan times there were many fountains, reservoirs or water tanks used as mirrors during clear nights in order to observe and study the stars and constellations. Possibly, the reservoir found over there also had that duty. Towards the northeast of the reservoir there is a karstic formation, an effect of the dissolution of calcium carbonate contained in limestones, caused by water that also drilled a tunnel known as small " Chinkana" ("spot to get lost"). That passage shows areas that were modified or carved by Quechuas; it is supposed to be a temple dedicated to the "Ukju Pacha" or "Underground World" and the cult of snakes and corpses. Even further to the north is the big "Chinkana" under a huge carved boulder that local people know as the " tired stone" (according to tradition it never arrived to the spot where it was supposed to serve), as many people argue it is a large "chinkana"; but today it is flooded and closed.
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