Cuarto del Rescate

In November 1532 Pizarro's force seized Atahualpa in the square at Cajamarca after a meeting that turned into a massacre. Atahualpa offered to fill a room with gold and twice over with silver in exchange for his release; the metal was collected from across the empire and melted down, and in July 1533 he was executed regardless. The Cuarto del Rescate is the building identified with that room - a single stone chamber with trapezoidal niches and doorways in Inca masonry, the only Inca structure left standing in the city. Whether it was the ransom room itself or Atahualpa's place of confinement is disputed by historians, and a line on the wall said to mark the agreed height is a later addition. It is a small, plain space, and its weight comes entirely from what happened, not from what there is to see.

What you actually see

• The chamber - one Inca stone room with trapezoidal niches and doorways.
• The only survivor - the sole Inca building left standing in Cajamarca.
• The ransom story - gold and silver gathered from the empire, then melted.
• The dispute - whether this was the ransom room or the place of confinement.

When to go

May to September for weather. Thirty to sixty minutes. Often sold on a combined ticket with the Belén complex and the city museums.

Honest expectations

One small room, seen in ten minutes - visitors expecting a monument are surprised. The marked ransom line is a modern addition. Interpretation on site is thin. The building is enclosed by a modern shell for protection.

Nearby

The Plaza de Armas and Belén complex are close; Cerro Santa Apolonia overlooks the city.