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image of the chief fe tich. The ou ter niche is
2.29
metres high, 1.50 metres wide at the base. and
narrows to half a meter at the top. Garcilaso
says there were four of these niches which he
called ' tabernacles" but there oan only be found
t.heremains of two, and undoubtedly the others
'vere between the walls of the sanctuary of the
Su!:l.
The shrine of Venus and the Stars is the best
preserved, the interior being practically intact;
it
is
12
metres long and 8 metres wide. The north–
ern wall has
1
e.ntirely disappeiared, disclosing the
southern wall of the Sanctuar¡y of the Moon,
1
with which jt is frequently confused.
This s rine has 26 pyramidal n ·ches, around
the inner
lls
c tting them in
alf, runs a
painted stripe of black, the significance of which
is not defi iie
y
known. It may hav been sym–
bolical of
e division of the sanctuary between
Heaven and Earth-Heaven being the upper half
and the Earth the lower, as
it
was destined for
the celestial divinities-such is the' he1ief of the
author of "La Ciudad de los Incas"; in im1agina..
tion - one may reconstruct the entrance to this
sanctuary from the remaining fragments.
In front of these two sanctuaries are two
others for the worship of minor divinities-the
;
lightning, thunder and the rainbow. They are
:smaller than the sanctuaries of the Moon and
of Venus, and do not stand alone but are united