Doha: Cultural Village Foundation-Katara in collaboration with the Peru embassy in Doha, will kick off a photographic exhibition of Qhapaq Nan on Tuesday. The event will be launched to mark the joining of Peru to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) world heritage list two years ago. The exhibition will start at 7pm at building 19-Gallery 2 of the Cultural Village.
Qhapaq Ñan, otherwise known as the Main Andean Road, was the backbone of the Inca Empire’s political and economic power. The whole network of roads over 30,000 km in length connected various production, administrative and ceremonial centers constructed over more than 2,000 years of pre-Inca Andean culture.
The name Tawantinsuyu indicates the union of provinces. The Spanish has first transliterated the name as Tahuatinsuyo. Back in the days, Qapac Ñan used to run over six South-American countries, from north to south: Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina.
The Inca Empire organized its network on a continent-wide scale; its roads are an invaluable expression of the organizing and planning spirit of the available labour force and constituted a key instrument in unifying the Empire physically and organizationally.
The Road also expressed these peoples’ harmonious relation and their adaptation to the complex Andean natural setting. Today, the cultural landscapes of Qhapaq Ñan form an exceptional backdrop on which living Andean cultures continue to convey a universal message: the human ability to turn one of the harshest geographical contexts of the American continent into an environment for life.
It is noteworthy that in June 2014, Qapac Ñan was added to the World Heritage List by UNESCO, during the 38th session of the World Heritage Committee that was held in Doha.
The Peninsula
