« Back to 083. Mural in Cuzco, Peru by Juan Bravo
Avenida del Sol, Cuzco, Peru
November 07, 2005
This photo shows the sacrifice of Tupak Amaru, who is suspended in air held apart by four horses. In the painting, the horses are represented as minotaurs. The four minotaurs represent: the monarchy (white minotaur), slave labor (black minotaur), the military (red minotaur), and the clergy (yellow minotaur). Tupac Amaru was a mestizo that led a revolt against the Spanish empire around 1781. His wife, Micaela Bastides, was also part of the resistance. In this image she is represented to the bottom left, her body murdered by the Spanish. His three children were also murdered, at a time when Tupac Amaru was being chased by the Spanish. In actuality, Tupac and his wife received one of the harshest sentences ever given in the history of Latin America. Tupac's extremeties were to be tied to four hourses and he would be pulled apart as he was alive. The remains of he and his wife were to be mutilated and placed on sticks to display to surrounding villages. The day of the sentence, before her husband Tupac, Micaela Bastides' tongue was cut off and she was hung. Since her neck was too small for the noose, she was brutally kicked in her womb and breasts until she died. Tupac suffered a similar fate. His tongue was also cut off. The four horses he was tied to could not break him, and he was mutilated. In the painting, Tupac is being honored by a female figure, most likely, Pachamama.
(photo by estria/ transistor6.com)
