How it began
The Inca crossed the gorges of the Andes with suspension bridges made of grass rope, part of the road system that tied their empire together. The Q'eswachaka bridge spans a gorge of the Apurimac River in the southern Peruvian Andes. According to the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, it has been rebuilt in the same place continually since the time of the Inca. The original builders are not named in the record. Today the work is done by four Quechua-speaking communities: Huinchiri, Chaupibanda, Choccayhua and Ccollana Quehue.
How it works
The bridge is made from a local grass called q'oya. Families cut the grass and twist it into thin cords about 70 meters long. About 30 cords are twisted into a rope, and three ropes are braided into a cable. Six great cables are made, four for the floor and two for handrails. The community stretches them by pulling together on the road, then carries them down to the river.
The old bridge is used to run the first new cable across, then cut loose to fall into the river. The cables are tied to ancient stone abutments on each side. Two bridge-builders then weave the sides and floor, each starting from an opposite end and meeting in the middle. The whole renewal takes three days and ends with a festival.
What lasted
The bridge has outlasted the empire that designed it because the method of maintaining it was built into community life. UNESCO notes that the communities see it as a way of strengthening their social links and not simply as a transport route, and treat it as a sacred expression of their bond with nature and history. Although the rebuilding takes three days, it shapes relations among the participating communities throughout the year. The skills are taught within families. The current bridge master, Victoriano Arizapana, began the work under his father at age 12.
Where it stands today
The bridge is still renewed every year with Inca techniques and raw materials, accompanied by ritual ceremonies. The knowledge, skills and rituals of the renewal were inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2013. The Smithsonian describes the finished structure as remarkably safe and able to hold dozens of people at once.
