Huaca de la Luna

The Huaca de la Luna (Temple of the Moon) is a pyramid made out of adobe (Adobe) in the Moche Valley in northern Peru near Trujillo.

It is smaller than the opposite Pyramid of the Sun ( Huaca del Sol ). It is located at the foot of Cerro Blanco and consists of four through walls and platforms interconnected pyramids that stand for four different building phases ( n from 3rd to 8th centuries AD). The distance to the Pyramid of the Sun is about 500 m. In this space, the so-called urban zone was with living and burial sites. Whether its inhabitants formed a socially differentiated population or alone belonged to the administrative and religious elite, is controversial.

The Huaca de la Luna measures 290 m x 210 m. She is primarily known for its colorful murals and friezes. The paintings and friezes show mythical personalities ( myth ), animal figures and anthropomorphic beings and suns, stars, floral and abstract motifs. The meanings of these complex images are largely unknown. Some representations are similar to those in another important ceremonial center of the Moche, Huaca del Brujo in the Chicama Valley in the north of Trujillo.

Huaca is a generic term for any sanctuary, which included also the burial sites in the Andes. Also peculiar or special places (sources, unusual trees, rocks, etc.) and nature (such as deformed fruits, tubers or animals, but also twins ) were called Huaca.