Sanctuary of Pachacamac

A millennium of pilgrims

The adobe pyramids and plazas of Pachacamac spread over the desert coast just south of Lima, overlooking the Pacific near the mouth of the Lurín River. The site was a religious center from roughly the early centuries CE, grew in importance under the Wari influence of the later first millennium, and under the Ychsma polity became the seat of an oracle consulted from far along the coast and highlands.

Inca and Spanish

The Incas, taking the coast in the fifteenth century, built a Temple of the Sun on the hill above the older Painted Temple and a house of chosen women (acllahuasi), while continuing to consult Pachacamac's oracle. In January 1533 Hernando Pizarro arrived seeking gold, forced his way into the sanctuary, and had the idol destroyed; his letter and the account of Miguel de Estete describe the episode. A carved wooden idol found at the Painted Temple in 1938 is displayed in the site museum.

In the stories

In the Huarochirí stories, the proud huaca Cavillaca walks into the sea at Pachacamac with her child and becomes stone, and Cuniraya meets Pachacamac's daughters on the beach there.