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The Q'eswachaka, a World Heritage Site built more than 600 years ago with plant fiber ropes, has not received maintenance this year due to the health emergency.
The coronavirus not only damages health and affects the economy, but its consequences even include the loss of some traditions. In Peru, the Q'eswachaka bridge, dating back to the Inca Empire and whose conservation ritual is an intangible cultural heritage of humanity, collapsed due to the deterioration of the ropes. According to reports from the Decentralized Directorate of Culture of Cusco, the failure to renew them was caused by the containment measures of the pandemic.
"It should be remembered that the annual renovation of the bridge is carried out in the second week of June with the participation for 3 days of hundreds of farmers from the communities of Chaupibanda, Choccayhua, Huinchiri and Ccollana Quehue", indicates a statement from the decentralized management of Cusco.
CUSCO: QUESWACHACA BRIDGE COLLAPSE (Q'ESWACHAKA)?Unfortunately the Queswachaca Inca bridge could not be renovated in.
Posted by PERU INKA Tourist Magazine on Tuesday, March 23,
Deeply sorry for what happened, it was the people of the communities in the Quehue area, near Cusco, who were the first to report the fall of the last Inca bridge. They are in fact the ones who have carried out, without ever interrupting the tradition, in June of each year the traditional task of weaving and replacing the old fibers with new ones, thus allowing the bridge to remain standing since the times of the Incas. However, last year, due to the ban on mobility and distancing, the task was not carried out, with the result we are seeing now.
After an emergency meeting between all the authorities and the four communities that each year undertake the maintenance ceremony of the bridge, the mayor of the Quehue district, Mario Tacuma Taype, announced that the works for the recovery of the Q´eswachaka will begin in Mid-April.
“April 15th is the agreed date to start the works, but it will also depend on the straw material called coya, which is a little green, and has to ripen a little more. 70% of the community members already own this material, which we keep out of habit ”, indicated the mayor.
Q´eswachaka, the last Inca bridge
The natural bridge, built entirely by hand with vegetable fibers, has been standing for about 600 years and is a living testimony of one of the greatest achievements of the Inca civilization: the “Qhapaq Ñan” or Inca Trail. (READ also: The Inca civilization that owes its splendor to the sun)
Declared intangible cultural heritage of humanity by Unesco in 2013, this bridge binds us to our ancestral heritage and we hope it will soon be reborn.
Every year in June, hundreds of locals gather in the remote Quehue district of Cusco in #Peru to carry on a centuries-old Incan tradition. In an incredible feat of craftsmanship, engineering and teamwork, the community comes together to build a 124-foot-long rope bridge across the Apurímac River. #VisitPeru #DiscoverYourselfinPeru
Posted by Great Big Story on Tuesday, September 5, 2017
Source: Andean / El Comercio / District Municipality of Quehue
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- Machu Picchu: a million trees against climate change
