If you haven’t been to see Machu Picchu And The Golden Empires of Peru at the Australian Museum in Sydney, run … don’t walk. The exhibition closes this weekend. Miss out and you’ll be missing out on a fascinating insight into Andean history and the enduring symbol of Inca civilization, Machu Picchu.
Perched high on a mountain ledge in the Andes, Machu Picchu was built around 1450, at the height of the Inca empire. The stone citadel was the ultimate expression of the Incas’ artistic, organisational, architectural, and technical prowess. Later abandoned, it was swallowed by the forest until Yale historian Hiram Bingham brought it to the attention of the world in 1911. It is now UNESCO World Heritage-listed.
More than 200 artifacts from 10 ancient Peruvian cultures were brought from the Museo Larco in Lima for display at the Australian Museum. The stunning exhibition takes visitors on a journey through 3,000 years of sophisticated Andean agricultural societies that culminated in the Inca empire.
The exhibition begins with a video presentation on a 180-degree curved screen, the camera soaring across the lush landscape before swooping down on Machu Picchu. But I’d recommend that even before entering the exhibition, you should do the Australian Museum’s virtual reality experience (for an additional charge).
This is easily one of the best VR experiences I’ve done; it really felt as though I was soaring like a bird over the site. At times, it nearly took my breath away as I suddenly came face-to-face with Machu Picchu’s stone ruins. The citadel functioned as a religious centre, astronomical observatory, and a place of agricultural ingenuity and production. Its more than 200 stone structures included temples, palaces, plazas, and homes.
Back to the video presentation in the theatre, a map reveals that at the time of the Spanish Conquest, the vast Inca territory stretched for thousands of kilometres across the Andes, joining Peru to western Ecuador, the southwest tip of Columbia, western and central Bolivia, much of contemporary Chile, and northwest Argentina, with a population of around 12 million people from many ethnic groups.
A huge road network spanned the empire, connecting communities with the capital, Cusco, and enabling a constant flow of troops, workers, resources, food supplies and other goods. Massive hydraulic irrigation systems produced harvests capable of supporting large populations. But it took constant effort to keep the gods on side to ensure such abundance.
For Andean societies, the natural and the spiritual worlds were deeply interconnected. People recognized themselves to be a part of the natural world, not apart from it. In their cosmology, three worlds co-exist in balance: the Upper World, where birds soar, inhabited by the sun and celestial gods; the Here and Now, occupied by humans and non-humans; and the Inner World, associated with the night, where the ancestors live and where rainwater germinates seeds. Steps allow movement between the worlds.
The exhibition follows the adventures of mythological hero, Ai Apaec, who harnesses the forces of nature, including sacred animals, to undergo a series of transformations that allow him to pass through the different worlds, eventually leading him to his death. Reborn, he unites with the Earth Mother, the Pachamama, thus ensuring the continuation of the natural cycles that provide the sun and life-giving rains.
To guarantee these cycles, Andean people performed rituals, including human sacrifice, presenting offerings to placate the gods and honour their ancestors. The victims gained sacred status and the community received the promise of regeneration.
Lords, kings, queens, and emperors were the earthly representatives of the gods. They were the only members of the community who could wear gold and silver, precious metals that had symbolic rather than monetary value. This was something that the Spanish conquistadors failed to understand, the exhibition poignantly noting that the robbing of Andean gold for the conquistadors’ personal wealth — a fifth of it went to the Spanish crown — robbed Andeans of their ritual insignia, their prestige, their link to their ancestors, and their communal identity.
Although these agricultural societies had no written language, they left a detailed record of their beliefs, rituals, power structures, and vision of the world on temple walls and in stone sculptures, wood carvings, woven fabrics, metalwork, ceramic vessels and other objects created for religious rites and burials.
Among the exhibition’s highlights are a more than two-metre-long rectangular textile made from the blue and yellow feathers of Amazonian birds, and a vessel that unlocks some of the mysteries about the ritual of human sacrifice. Of such cultural significance to Andean archaeology is this vessel that it has been compared with the Rosetta Stone.
In the fourth gallery, the centrepiece is a magnificent bell-shaped vase that tells the entire Ai Apaec story. The artifacts around it are installed in niches, lit like precious jewels and accompanied by photomurals.
The fifth gallery, focusing on human sacrifice, will no doubt be the one that evokes the strongest response from many visitors. Here, we see how the most impressive warriors from the elite class took part in ritual combat, with examples of their regalia including a silver helmet, a gold armour vest, and some superb gold and turquoise ear ornaments that would have dazzled spectators during these ceremonies.
Moving into a space that recreates the inner temple where prisoners were prepared for sacrifice and where the altars were located, we see how the defeated warriors were bound with ropes and, like Ai Apaec, make the ultimate sacrifice. As their throats are cut, they are transformed into sacred beings.
Their life-giving blood is collected in cups and offered up to the high priests, representatives of the gods. The exhibition features two of the most important items used in the ritual: a knife and a sacrificial goblet, both made of silver.
Another gallery displays the finery worn by Andean rulers. Taking visitors under a snake-arch and into a dark space lit by a radiant glow, it’s an impressive backdrop for a lavish display of gold, silver, copper, and precious stone artifacts, all of them a pinnacle of craftsmanship and artistry. Being able to get up so close to these works is an incredible privilege.
For anyone interested in South American history, the exhibition is a fascinating snapshot of an ancient civilization that flourished for 5,000 years. For those of us who haven’t yet had the opportunity to visit Peru and Machu Picchu, it certainly whets the appetite for a visit.
