Twelve-Angled Stone

The Twelve-Angled Stone is a masterpiece of Inca masonry on Hatunrumiyoc Street in Cusco, Peru. Fashioned from green diorite, the six-ton block features twelve precisely cut angles that fit so tightly with surrounding stones that not even a piece of paper can pass between them, all without mortar. The 12 angles are believed to represent the 24 families of Cusco from the Hurin and Hanan dynasties. Originally part of the Inca palace of Inca Roca, the wall has survived major earthquakes in 1650, 1950, and 1986, and is now designated a National Heritage Object.