After spending two days lazing around in Trujillo and Huanchaco beach I finally overcame my inner temptation and went on a tour to visit the archeological sites around Trujillo. Usually I don´t like tours and also this time I got a bit pissed as we spend too much time waiting for people, having lunch in a bad restaurant and so on. But the sites we visited definately "valen la pena" - are worth it.
In the morning we first visited the Moon Temple. The Moon Temple belonged to the capital of the Moche empire, build and inhabited between 100 BC and untill around 800 AC. The Moche worshipped nature and most of all the sun and the moon. The sun and moon, day and night, represented to them the duality of nature, the positive and the negative side. The Moche accepted both sides and tried to find harmony and balance between the two. They also represented their Gods both smiling and angry in various pictures to represent this duality.
The buildings of the Moche empire are all made of mud bricks which braved the winds and rains - but unfortunately not the various attacks and worst of all, lootings. Today you can still marvel at part of the mural paintings which have been excavated and restored but the graves of the Moche rulers and their treasures have been looted by the Spaniards. Unfortunately the treasures can´t even be found in Spanish museums anymore because the Spanish melted them down into gold coins. In their greed for gold the Spanish even changed the riverbed of the Moche river to flood the Sun Temple - which used to be the biggest pre-Columbian building in the Americas before this happened - to make the water wash out the treasures of the tombs and chambers.
Somehow it made my really sad to learn about all this - so much beauty and craftmanship lost forever! And even though the human sacrifices of the Moche sounds very cruel - their admiration for nature is something we could learn from today and its a pity that there is not more left to study their culture. But yes, the human sacrificas which are also depicted in the murals are quite scary. For example they used to drug prisoners and push them from a rock close to the city whenever there was a storm or other indication that "the Gods where angy". This ritual was depicted on some ceramics excavated at the site and later confirmed by bones found at the bottom of the rock.
In the morning we first visited the Moon Temple. The Moon Temple belonged to the capital of the Moche empire, build and inhabited between 100 BC and untill around 800 AC. The Moche worshipped nature and most of all the sun and the moon. The sun and moon, day and night, represented to them the duality of nature, the positive and the negative side. The Moche accepted both sides and tried to find harmony and balance between the two. They also represented their Gods both smiling and angry in various pictures to represent this duality.
The buildings of the Moche empire are all made of mud bricks which braved the winds and rains - but unfortunately not the various attacks and worst of all, lootings. Today you can still marvel at part of the mural paintings which have been excavated and restored but the graves of the Moche rulers and their treasures have been looted by the Spaniards. Unfortunately the treasures can´t even be found in Spanish museums anymore because the Spanish melted them down into gold coins. In their greed for gold the Spanish even changed the riverbed of the Moche river to flood the Sun Temple - which used to be the biggest pre-Columbian building in the Americas before this happened - to make the water wash out the treasures of the tombs and chambers.
Somehow it made my really sad to learn about all this - so much beauty and craftmanship lost forever! And even though the human sacrifices of the Moche sounds very cruel - their admiration for nature is something we could learn from today and its a pity that there is not more left to study their culture. But yes, the human sacrificas which are also depicted in the murals are quite scary. For example they used to drug prisoners and push them from a rock close to the city whenever there was a storm or other indication that "the Gods where angy". This ritual was depicted on some ceramics excavated at the site and later confirmed by bones found at the bottom of the rock.
After visiting the Moon Temple we went back to Trujillo to have the usual lunch break - too long as always - in a typical tourist restaurant. The best way to spoil any nice tour... but ok, I survived and we went to visit the Rainbow Temple, a Temple belonging to the city of Chan Cha, the capital of the Chimu culture which successed the Moche culture and was finally conquered my the Incas. In the Rainbow Temple the murals depict mythological creatures and human sacrifices - especially children. Our guide explained that they usually sacrificed the most intelligent and brilliant kids. We where all wondering what future a society can have that sacrifices the most promising of its children... Maybe that´s why in the end the Incas took over.
After the Rainbow Temple we went to the main Chan Chan excavations and visited what is left of one palace and the burial grounds. But also here the site has been looted so many times that absolutely nothing has been found by the archeologists. Some Spanish texts exists about when the Spanish found the site - at that time they still found some beautifully dressed mummies wearing exquisite jewlery - but by the 1950s when the archeologists started excavating the site everything had disappeared - what a pity!
One witness of Chima times can still be found at the site - the naked Peruvian dog! Ugly as sin but worshipped as son of the moon by the Chimu. The Chimu used these dogs in religious ceremonies to ask the Moon to send rain. Nowadays the Peruvian dogs just laze around and pose for tourists taking pictures ;-)
After the Rainbow Temple we went to the main Chan Chan excavations and visited what is left of one palace and the burial grounds. But also here the site has been looted so many times that absolutely nothing has been found by the archeologists. Some Spanish texts exists about when the Spanish found the site - at that time they still found some beautifully dressed mummies wearing exquisite jewlery - but by the 1950s when the archeologists started excavating the site everything had disappeared - what a pity!
One witness of Chima times can still be found at the site - the naked Peruvian dog! Ugly as sin but worshipped as son of the moon by the Chimu. The Chimu used these dogs in religious ceremonies to ask the Moon to send rain. Nowadays the Peruvian dogs just laze around and pose for tourists taking pictures ;-)
2 comments:
você è linda de mais meu amor !!!!!
bjs bjs bjs
Obrigada, amor! Amo voce :-* Morrendo de saudade... bjs
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