Kuelap is an impressive pre Colombian fortress that is located on the banks of the Utcubamba River in the Peruvian region of Amazonas near (35 Kilometers) Chachapoyas city.
This fortress was constructed by the Chachapoyas culture which inhabited this region around 800 AD. Kuelap is one of the few remains of the Chachapoyas culture which was known also as the Cloud Forest people and was the most advanced civilization of the Peruvian Jungle.
The name of the fortress would mean “cold place” and probably was called thus because it is one the few places of the zone (the Amazon jungle); where the climate is not very warm.
The fortress is situated 3000 meters above the sea level on the top of a mountain; therefore, Kuelap is sometimes called also the “Fortress in the Clouds”. Because of this strategically location, it can see the entire Utcubamba valley from the fortress.
It is presumed that the entire citadel was constructed during 200 years. Kuelap is so large that is estimated that contains 3 times more material than the Egyptian pyramid of Keops. Kuelap cover an area of 6 hectares (14 acres).
The fortress is composed by massive walls of stone of 20 meters height that protect a city that contain around 400 circular buildings, including a castle. This amazing structure is roughly 600 meters in length and 110 meters width.
The inside buildings were roofed with thatch. It believes that Kuelap was constructed to defense against the Huari and other warrior Pre Colombian civilizations that inhabited the current Peruvian Territory between the VIII and XVI centuries.
Kuelap has three passageways, two facing east and one facing west, which are so narrow (around 2 meters wide) that can be defended by a single warrior. Like most Pre Colombian Peruvian cities, Kuelap is successfully integrated with the natural environment. The Chachapoyas created harmonic structures in a privileged site. The temples and the fortress harmonize perfectly with the landscapes of the region.
The citadel inside de walls contains several cultivation terraces, settlements, storehouses and public plazas. Besides, the complex has multiple levels or platforms. A singular feature of the buildings of Kuelap is their decoration.
Several buildings of the complex have walls decorated with friezes that evoke eyes and birds; this type of decoration is not found anywhere else in the Pre Colombian America. Besides, all the complex has a sophisticated system of rainwater drainage which protected the citadel against floods
Despite the great number of structures of the complex, there are three buildings that highlight: the Tintero, which is a circular turret with the shape of an inverted cone in the southern end of the largest platform, the Atalaya that is a turret located in north of Kuelap and the Castle, a nice notorious building, located in the main zone of the citadel on the top platform.
Kuelap was an important center between 800 AD and 1530. The city maintained an important status even after the Inca conquest led by the Tupac Inca Yupanqui in 1452: nevertheless, after Spanish invasion of South America, the city was abandoned by the people and it was rediscovered only in 1843 by a local resident of the region named Juan Crisóstomo Nieto.
After its rediscovering, step by step Kuelap was gaining the attention of explorers, tourists and archeologists. One of the first scientists that studied the city was the Italian Antonio Raimondi, who discovered in the site an enigmatic skeleton, which belonged to a man, who was two meters tall.
One of the first works about Kuelap was published in the 1930s by the French Louis Langlois who wrote a complete description of the fortress.
Langlois like the scientist Adolf Bandelier believed that Kuelap was more than a fortress. They thought that one of the functions of Kuelap was to serve as refuge to the population in emergency situations.
In the second half of the XX century some bizarre mausoleums belonged to the Chachapoyas culture were found in an inaccessible site on the banks of a lagoon in the Chachapoyas province near Kuelap.
The mausoleums were studied by the archeologist Federico Kauffmann Doig, who found inside these mausoleums several mummies. Which were buried with funeral bundles, ceramics, quipus (a device of cotton cords used by the ancient Peruvians to represent numbers and probably concepts), jewelry, etc.
Unfortunately most Chachapoyas tombs were looted, destroying forever many secrets of the enigmatic Chachapoyas culture.
In 1998 the archeological complex of Kuelap was declared an Intangible Archeological Zone and a cultural patrimony of Peru. The tourism in Kuelap is increasing every year; nevertheless it is not still a destination with crowds of tourists.
Kuelap is without doubt one of the most significant wonders of Peru, and a nice site to visit.