House of the Dragon - Tupac Inca Yupanqui
Peruvian Art, Culture, Food, Ice Cream and Travel
The
House of the Dragon -
Tupac Inca Yupanqui in Cusco Peru is a
contemporary art and cultural center acknowledging the
Incan past while emphasizing the contemporary art and
culture of Peru. It is located at Calle
Arequipa/Q’hapchik'ijllu 159 just 2 blocks from the
Plaza de Armas in Cusco including the Cathedral and
Compañia de Jesus (pictured here) ... almost in the
center of town and part of the monumental district.
The
House of the Dragon - Tupac Inca Yupanqui
includes the Fractal Dragon Art Gallery, Dragon's
Palate Restuarant, El Hada ice cream parlor and PIE
Peru travel agency.
Fractal Dragon
Art Gallery (pictures) in Cusco, Peru. The
Fractal Dragon Art Gallery (web
site) in presents contemporary Peruvian art...
paintings, ceramics and sculpture for viewing and for
sale. The gallery currently comprises three rooms in
the first floor of the house, and three large
galleries, an office and gallery store on the 2nd
floor of the house. The director of the gallery is
Elena Mendoza Altamirano who also serves as director
of the Cultural Center.
Dragon's Palate -
Restuarant & Beer Garden (photos).
Dragon's
Palate Restuarant (web page) - together with the
art gallery we use the theme of a Dragon; furthermore
'palate' is a homonym with an artist's palette (OK...
explaining the obvious, but the play on words is not
so obvious in Spanish). The restaurant has 4 dining
areas: the Mandelbrot cafe (fractalicious), the
patio/beer garden with WiFi access, the more refined
artsey dining room with seating for 25 persons, and
the widescreen TV/Movie/directTV room. The menu offers
both a fusion of Peruvian and International fare
including appetizers, soups, salads, pastas, main
courses and desserts with a nice selection of hot and
cold drinks with local beers and wines.
Casa Tupac
Yupanqui (pictures). Our physical 'house' has a
title dating back to 1732 with the some parts of the
house perhaps constructed even earlier. It is located
on the city block which made up the imperial palace of
the Tupac Inca Yupanqui in pre-Columbian times. The
architecture is a mix of colonial and republican. The
house is two story adobe construction with walls one
meter thick, roofs of antique ceramic tiles and a
modest patio surrounded by the four wings of the
house. The spacious galleries on the 2nd floor are
shared between the art gallery and cultural center.
The patio is shared by all members of our community.
We also maintain part of the 2nd floor as our
apartment.
PIE Peru (Peru Incredible
Experiences). PIE Peru offers trips and adventure
tours throughout all of Peru. Claudia is their local
representative for meeting, greeting and reviewing
travel experiences with their clients. We are pleased
to have PIE Peru in the house of the Dragon - Tupac
Inca Yupanqui.
El Hada Heladería (The Fairy Ice Cream
Parlor). El Hada offers homemade ice creams in
homemade waffle cones along with homemade toppings and
cakes along with fresh made coffees and cappuccinos
from a storefront with direct access both to the
walkway/street (Calle Arequipa) as well as the patio
and beer garden of the hose of the Dragon. Their ice
cream and dessert offerings nicely complement the full
service menu of Dragon's Palate Restaurant and the
artistic nature of their offering meshes well with the
contemporary art gallery Fractal Dragon. We are proud
to have El Hada as part of the house of the Dragon -
Tupac Inca Yupanqui.
It was a difficult task fixing up
an antiquity while maintaining architectural and
cultural integrity within some kind of reasonable
budget during a world-wide economic crisis. We’ve
finished work on the antique part of house (not that
such work is ever really finished) and had an official
opening with invitees from many of the venues in Cusco
on September 1 of 2009.
The mission of the cultural
center is to promote contemporary art and culture of
Cusco (and the rest of Peru and South America in that
order). We host musical and theatrical presentations
and exhibitions in the plastic/visual and performing
arts in our exhibition halls. Members of the Cusco
community and visitors to Cusco interact with the
contemporary the art and culture in Cusco and with the
various artists and performers resident or visiting
Cusco. With our emphasis on ‘contemporary’ you won’t
see copies or re-enactments of colonial or
pre-Columbian dances, music, or art, but you may see
the fusion of contemporary art with our colonial and
pre-Columbian inheritance.
Please visit our Facebook page to see or comment on the
latest events in the cultural center.
