Marcas de cantería y signos cruciformes en la iglesia Santa Ana de Yauri, provincia de Espinar (Cusco, Perú)

Abstract

The church of Santa Ana de Yauri, capital of the Cusco province of Espinar, shows a series of glyptographs of two types: Stonemasonry marks and cruciform signs. The function of the stonemason’s marks is well determined, since they were signs of identification and accounting of the ashlars delivered by different master builders. The presence of the crosses is more intriguing since they do not seem to have an apotropaic function, and may rather be related to devotional expressions. In any case, it becomes clear that the cruciform signs are subsequent to the marks; these were surely engraved during the construction process of the original church that was built between the 17th and 18th centuries. The current building ‒which used the foundation and a part of the walls of the collapsed original church‒ dates from the second half of the 19th century; It is not ruled out that at least part of the marks correspond to that time. Many of these signs were affected by the scraping perpetrated during the restoration of the ecclesiastical complex, some fifteen years ago, an intervention that also destroyed pictograms of the colonial Espinar rupestrian style.