On the first day in Cusco (during the hail storm), we went to Qorikancha.  Qorikancha was an Incan Temple of the Sun until the 16th century when the Convent of Santo Domingo was built on the Incan temple. The site is a mixture of Incan and Baroque building techniques as there are still Incan walls supporting the convent.

Word is that Qorikancha had panels of gold lining the walls of the court-yard that were designed to be bathed in sun. (Qorikancha means “courtyard of gold” in Quechua.) A lot of the gold was used to pay a ransom for a captured Incan, Atahualpa, whom the Spaniards killed anyway. Then, when Spanish Conquistadors sacked Qorikancha, they seized the remaining gold and melted it down.  Legend has it that a massive gold disc was hidden somewhere by the Incans. That hiding place has yet to be discovered.