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Ollantaytambo is a monumental work of Inca architecture. It is now a modern Peruvian city which has been built on top of Inca ruins. The noble houses of the Inca still exist, and the patios maintain their original architecture. The Inca city constituted an agricultural, military, religious, and administrative complex.
Ollantaytambo is located in the district of Ollantaytambo, province of Urubamba, Peru, approximately 60 km to the northwest of the city of the Cuzco at an altitude of 2,792 meters above sea level.
Ollantaytambo is one of the more monumental architectural complexes of the Inca Empire, and is commonly called Fortaleza (fortress) due to its extraordinary walls. It was in fact a tambo, or inn, and was strategically located to dominate the Sacred Valley of the Incas. It was to here that Manco Inca retreated in order to amass his armies after the fall of Cuzco to the Spanish conquistadors.
The straight, narrow and colorful streets today form fifteen square blocks, or canchas, which contain one entrance to a central square which is surrounded by houses. Located to the north of the main area of the city, they are an excellent example of Inca town planning. Some colonial houses are also constructed on polished Inca walls. The stones are dark pink in color.
According to legend, as documented by Garcilaso de la Vega, the people were commanded by the Inca god Viracocha to build the city.
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