Similar to Machu Picchu, Kuélap was abandoned in 1570 due to the Spanish Conquest. As a result, the citadel was left untouched and became covered by tree roots over time.
Kuélap was rediscovered in 1843, by Juan Crisóstomo Nieto, a judge from the nearby city of Chachapoyas, named after the indigenous group. The area is located in the southern part of the Amazonas region of Peru. You can actually get there from Iquitos, but it’s about a 12-hour bus ride! The area is covered with cloud forests, which is a moist forest that has regular, low-level cloud cover.
Kuélap is a huge citadel with walls that are ten to 20 meters high! Some walls have friezes: beautifully carved out stone with detailed zig-zag shapes. The walls are made with limestone blocks, some that may weigh three tons! The Citadel has three entrances, two to the east and the other one to the west. Check this out: the main entrance has a trapezoid shape and may have had a corbel arch. As you walk through it, the entrance becomes very narrow until it only allows the passage of one person! Why do you think they would have constructed it in this way?
There is evidence that those who lived in Kuélap were also interested in astronomy. On the southwestern part of the citadel, there is a 5.5 meters high structure known as or Templo Mayor (main temple). It has the shape of an inverted cone, and it is hypothesized that the building may have been used as a solar observatory!
I had a similar feeling of astonishment when I arrived in Kuélap.
