The temple of the sun is the most elaborately carved temple on the site. It is also one of the only Incan structures that has a curved wall.
It is called the temple of the sun because the window lines up with the sun on the solstice.
It was built upon large chunks of natural rock.
The little nubs outside of the windows probably supported some kind of instruments to assist with solar observations.
The natural rock was carved so that the rectangular blocks would fit into it securely.
The back wall of the temple of the sun connects to an adjoining building, which was probably a priest’s house. The priest’s house used slightly lower quality stones. You can see the transition from the poofier stones used for the priest’s house to the smoother, flatter ones used for the Sun Temple.
Underneath the temple of the sun is a cave which sunlight only enters for a few days before and after the winter solstice. Therefore they think it was used as part of the winter solstice celebrations.
The curved wall and shiny white rocks really stand out from the surrounding buildings.
