Puerta del Sol Tiahuanaco

cults3d

The Puerta del Sol is part of the Tiwanaku Monumental Archaeological Complex, it is located in the northwest corner of the Kalasasaya Temple. It is one of the most important material and symbolic representations of the Tiwanakota metropolis. Carved from a single piece of the Andesite stone, it is 3 meters high, 4 meters wide and weighs approximately 10 tons. Its front face presents a carved band with low reliefs, it presents 48 figures of winged men and kneeling men, located around a main figure, known as the "Sun God" or "Lord of the Staves". The trumpeters, located at the bottom of the bas-reliefs, seem to accurately mark 105 solar movements, which is why several researchers argue that the frieze could be a perfect calendar that marks the dates of agricultural cycles. The rear face has a projecting upper frieze and a lower one that is framed in the lintel of the door accompanied by small niches. According to experts, the Puerta del Sol was part of a covered temple, possibly the Akapana Pyramid or the Kalasasaya Temple itself. Due to its design characteristics, its structure, the holes and the recesses in the monument, these could fit with wooden or stone crossbars. In the same way, in the lateral sectors of the lithic complex, there can be found frameworks to support the walls laterally as part of a closed structure.