Slithering Serpents and the Afterlives of Stones: The Role of Ornament in Inka-Style Architecture of Cusco, Peru

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dc.contributor.advisorPillsbury, Joanneen_US
dc.contributor.authorTrever, Lisa Senchyshynen_US
dc.contributor.departmentArt History and Archaeologyen_US
dc.contributor.publisherDigital Repository at the University of Marylanden_US
dc.contributor.publisherUniversity of Maryland (College Park, Md.)en_US
dc.date.accessioned2006-02-04T06:56:01Z
dc.date.available2006-02-04T06:56:01Z
dc.date.issued2005-11-22en_US
dc.description.abstractSerpent reliefs and other pre-Hispanic motifs occasionally appear on the façades of early colonial Inka-style masonry buildings in Cusco, the former capital of the Inka empire, although similar carvings are only rarely seen on earlier Inka architecture. This research demonstrates that while some ashlars were reused from pre-Hispanic Inka walls, the reliefs were likely carved during the colonial era. Central to this analysis is the premise that the breakdown of Inka state iconoclasm allowed native masons greater decorative license. The appearance of Andean motifs on houses built for the city's Spanish inhabitants reveals the complexity of early colonial attitudes toward indigenous culture. The carvings provide an opportunity to investigate the shifting meanings of Andean symbols during the early years of the Spanish presence in Peru. Indeed, these motifs, carved after the Inka imperial collapse, have since become iconic of "Inka-ness" and are replicated in Cusco's twentieth-century municipal architecture.en_US
dc.format.extent882599 bytes
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/3108
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.subject.pqcontrolledArt Historyen_US
dc.subject.pqcontrolledArchitectureen_US
dc.subject.pqcontrolledAnthropology, Archaeologyen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledInkaen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledIncaen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledCuscoen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledCuzcoen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledarchitectureen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledPeruen_US
dc.titleSlithering Serpents and the Afterlives of Stones: The Role of Ornament in Inka-Style Architecture of Cusco, Peruen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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