Movement
Inca Architecture
Explore in the Atlas →The imperial stone-building tradition of the Andean Inca, distinguished by mortarless ashlar and polygonal masonry of blocks shaped so precisely that a knife blade cannot pass between them, trapezoidal openings, inward-leaning walls and agricultural terracing. Its earthquake-resistant techniques and integration with the mountain landscape are exemplified at Machu Picchu and Cusco.
Power Ritual Production
Details
- Origin
- Andes (Peru)
Classifications
- Holder
- Communal intergenerational
- Source of authority
- AncestryRevelation cosmology
- Subject
- More than human
- Cosmological orientation
- Cardinal axesAxis mundi
- Political position
- Hegemonic
- Degree of codification
- Protocol performed
- Mode of transmission
- ApprenticeshipOral song embodied
- Knowledge type
- Relational embodied
- Epistemic cluster
- Cross cultural cosmological
Sources
- Various. Inca architecture. Wikipedia, 2024.
- HISTORY. The Engineering Secret Behind Machu Picchu's Stonework. HISTORY, 2023.
Cite this entry
First published May 2026Last revised Jul 2026
CLAD. "Inca Architecture." Atlas of Architectural Thought. CLAD, 2026. https://www.cl-ad.com.au/research/atlas/movement/inca-architecture/. Accessed July 17, 2026.