Famous stone — feat of the Inca — damaged by intoxicated man in Peru, officials say
An intoxicated man wielding a metal tool is accused of attacking and damaging the Stone of Twelve Angles in Peru, a famed Inca construction, cultural officials said.
A man walked up to the cultural site, pulled a sharp object out of his bag and started striking the stone around 1 a.m. Feb. 18 in the mountain city of Cusco, according to a news release from the Peru Ministry of Culture and reporting from Peru news agency, Andina.
He was possibly using a hammer, Andina reported, and hit the stone at least seven times, making six visible impacts and causing some stone fragments to fall, per the release.
Officials said the man appeared intoxicated and was arrested by police, officials said. The man was identified as a 30-year-old, but it was not clear whether he was a tourist or local, police told Agence France-Presse.
The attack caused irreversible damage, Jorge Moya Coháguila, director of Cusco’s culture ministry, said in the release, and officials are now calling for the harshest punishment, a six-year prison sentence.
The Stone of Twelve Angles is located in a wall that once made up the Inca Roca palace, but now houses the archbishop’s palace and an art museum, Agence France-Presse reports.
The area of the wall rose to fame because of the perfectly fitted angles between the twelve stones that were laid with no mortar or concrete, carved to fit together with no spaces.
The wall is emblematic of the advanced engineering performed by the Inca 500 years ago, and similar, smaller angles can be found in walls and buildings throughout Cusco, officials said.
Cusco is a city in the south of Peru, seated in the Sacred Valley of the Andes, and was once the capital of the Inca Empire.
Google Translate was used to translate the news release from the Ministry of Culture and the news article from Andina.
This story was originally published February 19, 2025 at 1:51 PM with the headline "Famous stone — feat of the Inca — damaged by intoxicated man in Peru, officials say."
