A comparative architectural study between the Inca llaqta of Ollantaytambo (Peru) and the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang (China)

This study addresses the lack of comparative architectural research on how different cultures transform rock into distinct ritual and symbolic spaces. The article presents a comparative analysis of rock as a ritual space in the Inca llaqta of Ollantaytambo, Peru, and in the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang, China. The study focuses on understanding how the same material acquires different architectural and symbolic meanings depending on cultural contexts and worldviews. The objective was to identify the ways in which rock was transformed into a ritual device both in an open Andean landscape and in the excavated environment of Central Asia. Methodologically, the study combined primary architectural surveying (manual planimetry, drone imaging, and field observation) conducted in Ollantaytambo with a systematic archival and image-based analysis of Mogao (photographic, conservation, and published documentation). We explicitly acknowledge a methodological asymmetry—richer empirical, metric, and tactile data for Ollantaytambo versus secondary-source-based spatial readings for Mogao—and mitigate this by applying a consistent analytical framework (rock morphology, bodily scale, and hydraulic/representational mediation) and by cross-validating findings against high-quality published reconstructions and conservation reports. This approach preserves comparative rigor while transparently delimiting the generality of inferences drawn for each case. The results show that in Ollantaytambo, rock is conceived as a living huaca, articulated with the mountain and water, producing a collective and expansive experience. In contrast, in Mogao, rock functions as the physical support for Buddhist iconography, structuring an introspective and narrative environment that differs from the spatial rituality and hydraulic sacralization characteristic of Ollantaytambo. The study concludes that rock can be understood as a mediator between the human body and the cosmos within specific ritual contexts, although its meanings depend on the worldview that activates it. This provides a comparative conceptual framework for the study of ritual architectures.