Читать книгу The Historical Child - Oscar Chrisman - Страница 22

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The buildings of the highlands were of stone, while on the coast stone was used for foundations and brick made of clay mixed with reeds or tough grass was used for the walls. With stone mortar was sometimes used and sometimes not. In the great buildings where large stones were placed in the walls no mortar was used, and it is stated that in some of the remains of such buildings the stones are fitted so closely that not even a knife-blade can be inserted in the joints. The exterior walls were often of great thickness and the interior of the building was arranged around a court, with windows and doors from the rooms opening on to the court. Some of the buildings were of immense sizes, in particular those built as fortifications and for religious purposes. The doors were narrowed at the top, and with a stone across the top, the arch with the keystone not showing in Peruvian architecture. The roofs were thatched and in the large buildings the ceilings sometimes were vaulted by having the upper courses of masonry overlap and the whole topped by a single slab, thus forming a kind of arch. On this lower part a second story was built, which did not open on to the first floor, but was approached from the hill against which the building was built. Inside the building the walls were niched for the purpose of decoration and also gold plates and jewels were placed on the walls as ornaments.