The 12-angled Stone in Cusco

The 12-Angled Stone is located on Hatunrumiyoc Street. You can also visit the 13-Angled Stone and the Andean Trilogy.

About the Stone

The 12-Angled Stone is located on Hatunrumiyoc Street (which means “the street of the big stones”). This attraction is famous for its shape because each side of the rock was finely carved by the Incan master stone cutters.

Construction

While constructing the wall in which the 12-Angled Stone resides, the Incan architects did not use any mortar or adhesive material to keep the stones in place. Instead, they relied on the precise shaping of the stones and the use of interlocking angles to create a stable and secure structure.

The 12-Angled Stone and the Temple of the Ruler INCAROCA

The wall in which this famous stone is seated belonged to the temple of the Incan ruler known as INCAROCA. This temple is estimated to be more than a thousand years old, and its construction is made of a particular rock type called green diorite. The quarry for this type of stone can be found in the hill located northeast of the city of Cusco called T’oqocacchi, which is in the current-day San Blas neighborhood. Today this Inca temple belongs to the Archbishopric of Cusco, an entity that keeps many works of art such as paintings, exquisite woodwork and many other treasures. The building also now exhibits the most beautiful balcony in the city, with an Ajimez style of Arab origin, showing the influence of this culture on Spanish viceroyalty architecture.

Visit the 12-Angled Stone with the Free Walking Tour Cusco

In our free walking tours, we will show you this attraction as well as the lesser-known 13-Angled Stone, which many travelers miss. You will also have the chance to see, built into this wall, the silhouettes of the 3 animals represented in the Andean Trilogy (the puma, the condor and the snake). They belong to the Andean Cosmovision, and each of them represent aspects of the 3 “worlds” or “realities” believed in by the Incas. That is, the world of the dead represented by the snake, the world of the living by the puma and the world of the Gods by the condor.

How To Get There

To get to the 12-Angled Stone located on Hatunrumiyoc Street, starting in the Plaza de Armas, you can go along Triunfo Street (located next to the Triunfo Church) and  go to the right side of the Cathedral.

If you are not sure how to get to Hatunrumiyoc Street, you can ask our Real Cusco Free Walking Tours team, who wear the white t-shirts and are always in the main square at the water fountain. Alternatively, you could take one of our free tours that include a visit to the 12-Angled Stone and other nearby tourist sites.