DIRECTOR’S LETTER .............................
CONNECTING WITH THE INKA ROAD
The last Q’eswachaka rope bridge spanning the Apurimac River near Cusco, Peru.
and high plateau areas. It is among these ar- eas that the Museum is going to explore and educate visitors about the origins and growth of the Inka Empire though its new exhibition, The Great Inka Road: Engineering an Empire, which will be open through June 2018. This will be our first major bilingual exhibition dedicated to South America and its great im- portance to the science of sustainability and engineering. It will explain how the Inka Road and the surrounding areas are still used and explore their significance to contemporary society. The exhibition will cover the road as it weaves through six modern-day South American countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. With this road the Inka leaders linked
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thriving peoples, communities and nations that extended the length of the continent. Through more than 140 objects, video anima- tion flyovers of the road, interactive experi- ences, videos, 3D renderings of the Inka city of Cusco and multimedia touch tables, this exhibition will show the history of the road and its relation to cultural continuity. The timing could not have been better to
be working with the Smithsonian’s Folklife Festival, June 24 to 28 and July 1 to 5, as it
12 AMERICAN INDIAN SUMMER 2015
he Andes region is a network of challenging terrains. The varied landscape incorporates craggy coastal areas, lush jungles, soar- ing mountain vistas,
lowlands
presents the program Pachamama: Peru. The National Mall area just north of the Museum will be the new location of the festival. Here visitors will experience unique connections through cooking and craft demonstrations, music and dance performances, moderated discussions, ritual and celebratory processions and other participatory activities. In addition, there will be robust involvement with Peru- vian American and diaspora communities. The festival will be inviting more than 120 participants from Peru. It hopes to attract half a million visitors to the location. We are especially looking forward to meeting a fam- ily who for the past 500 years has been con- tinuously making a suspension bridge from local grasses in their homeland. They will be constructing a similar bridge spanning more than 60 feet on the Mall. The Marketplace will be situated in our Potomac Atrium, for three weeks, from June 24 through July 12. This will be an opportunity for visitors to the Museum to be able to enjoy an exceptional shopping experience. Shoppers will find beautiful works created by Peruvian artisans including jewelry, textiles, books, toys, pottery, clothing, sculp- ture and paper arts. I look back at my own trip that I took to
Peru several years ago along with former Smithsonian Secretary G. Wayne Clough and others. It was a delight to spend time in the Sacred Valley in Cusco, visit Machu Picchu of course and all the places that one must go if
BY KEVIN GOVER
you enter Inka country. Our journey began at Cusco, one of the highest cities in the world and the Inka Empire’s former capital. We trav- eled from there to Machu Picchu and then to Ollantaytambo, a central administrative cen- ter and a kind of gateway to Machu Picchu. The people of the colorful market town of Pisac welcomed us, as did the textile weavers in the Andes village of Chawaytiri (altitude: 12,000 feet), whose citizens graced us with generous hospitality. We participated in the village’s Procession of the Llama and walked with these Inka descendants along a section of the Inka Road. This area was named the Sacred Valley by the Inkas because they saw its abundant, sustaining water sources – riv- ers, rain and snow – as an affirmation of the connectedness of all life. The inspiration for our upcoming exhibi-
tion on the great Inka Road is to demonstrate that the Americas were not a wilderness. That civilization preexisted the arrival of Europe- ans in the New World. And that they were in many ways a very thriving set of communities spread throughout the length and width of the Americas. Certainly the Inkas are one of the primary examples of the achievements of the indigenous people in the Western Hemisphere. Their knowledge, their understanding of their environment, their agriculture and, of course, their engineering all remain infinitely interest- ing and instructive, particularly in a world that is grappling with nearly life-or-death challeng- es of sustainability. So, we’ve always believed that there is knowledge to be gained from the examination of these indigenous cultures, not simply for the sake of gathering knowledge, but for its application in our contemporary lives. We hope that this exhibition, festival and
related events will inspire visitors, both online and in person, to learn more about how our past is intricately linked to the present and offers us a way to honor the Andean peoples for their unique contributions to human achievement. X
Kevin Gover (Pawnee) is the director of the National Museum of the American Indian.
PHOTO BY DOUG MCMAINS
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