Vandals Damage Peru's 12-Cornered Inca Stone

Vandals Damage Peru's 12-Cornered Inca Stone

April 30 ?- LIMA, Peru (Reuters) - Vandals have damaged Peru's famous 12-cornered Inca stone in the Andean tourist city of Cusco by scarring it with a sharp metal object, the National Institute of Culture said on Friday.
The stone, which is both a national symbol and one of Cusco's best-known tourist sites, was damaged on Thursday night with either a nail, a screwdriver or a chisel, the INC said.

"The stone has a scar which is 15 centimeters (6 inches) long and 4 centimeters (1.6 inches) wide," INC spokesman Ramiro Canal told Reuters, adding that the stone was also now marked with seven small holes.

The INC said the stone could not be repaired because officials could not find the shards the vandals chopped off.

The large gray stone, a product of Inca craftsmanship thought to have energizing properties, is part of an outside wall in the palace of Cusco's archbishop and is on permanent display, unprotected by glass or plastic.

Hundreds of visitors flock every day to gaze at one of the most awesome displays of the precision cutting of big blocks of rock that was the Incas' trademark.

Before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in the 1500s, the stone was part of a palace built by the Incas.

The attack on the stone is not the first time Peru's fragile heritage has come under strain. Vandals have damaged some of Peru's mysterious Nasca lines, and a stone sun clock at the fabled Inca citadel of Machu Picchu near Cusco was chipped by a crane during the filming of a beer commercial in 2000.