Being to 85 km of Cuenca and dating of more than 500 years, Ingapirca rises to 3 200 m above the sea level on the sides of a mountain which overhangs some houses and of vast grounds devoted to agriculture and the breeding. The history tells that it is in Huayna Cápac that returns the honor to have built Ingapirca. The archeological site of Ingapirca was formerly a remarkable place where were exerted at the same time the influence of Cañaris, of the Amerindians who lived formerly on these grounds, and that of Incas, which settled there a little later. However, after the arrival of Incas, these places were strongly marked by their presence. Although this archeological site INCA is accessible to the tourists only since 1966, it was described for the first time in 1739 per Charles Marie of Condamine.

Of modest size, Ingapirca does not constitute of it less the dumb witness most important of the INCA presence in Ecuador. The ruins are articulated around a central platform which was probably used as place of worship and which, for this reason, is indicated under the name of Temple of the Sun. Around draw up the ruins of many buildings, between which one can see staircases and doors of trapezoidal form, typical of INCA architecture. Indeed, these doors resist the seisms better that the rectangular forms. All the stones of the site are so thoroughly arranged the ones against the others that the visitors believe that they are supported without any binder between them. However, while looking there of near, you will note that an excessively mean substance is placed between the stones to assemble them.

Only the Temple of the Sun survived the weight of the years, and one can appreciate the exceptional solidity of this construction by noticing that a good mortar bed exists between the stones of the other vestiges which make this site now restored. Around, one discovered recently the vestiges of burials going back to this time, and the excavations which continue episodically will undoubtedly make it possible to discover others of them. These ruins make think of a military fortress or a religious site, but their real significance still escapes to the historians and to archaeologists who remain perplexed and confused on their subject. Those are compared by no means with the famous ruins of Machu Picchu, in Peru, but they will enchant the amateurs of history and old stones. For those which are not satisfied to throw a fast glance and want to more include/understand the architecture and the symbolism of the places, it is preferable to go accompanied by a guide there.