Inti Raymi — Andean Festival Cusco
244.53 $
The Inti Raymi Festival of the Sun in Cusco photographed at the Sacsayhuamán fortress — the elaborate Inca ceremonial re-enactment with hundreds of costumed performers, the Inca emperor and high priest on their thrones, the crowd of 100,000 surrounding.
Description
Inti Raymi — the Festival of the Sun — is the most important celebration in the Andean Quechua calendar, held on the winter solstice (June 24th in the Southern Hemisphere) at the Sacsayhuamán Inca fortress above Cusco. The annual re-enactment features approximately 500 costumed performers representing the Inca court, military, and priesthood in a choreographed ceremony conducted entirely in Quechua, following the historical accounts of 16th- century Spanish chroniclers. Over 100,000 spectators surround the performance area. This photograph was made from a media position with press access — the elevated perspective necessary to show both the ceremonial participants on the central platform and the scale of the surrounding crowd. The late-June winter solstice sun at high altitude (3,400 metres) provides a quality of cold, clear light that renders the vivid costumes at maximum saturation against the grey Sacsayhuamán granite.
