Modern Cusco is a fascinating mix of Inca and Colonial architecture and culture. In a lasting tribute to Inca skill, many extremely well-constructed Inca walls still stand today - intact, smooth and held together by only the precision of their angles and the gradual inward slope of their planes. They have withstood more than one earthquake that has leveled the Spanish buildings on top of them. The Spanish Colonial architecture is also beautiful. In the Plaza de Armas, The Cathedral contains 400 colonial paintings, silver objects of art, and a main altar completely covered in silver. The convent of Santa Catalina contains important art and carvings, and is, somewhat ironically, built on top of what was the Inca residence of the chosen women. Many churches and museums contain paintings of the Cusco style developed by the Mestizo (Spanish and Indian heritage) artists. They applied European styles to their own fairy-tale and fable content. Unfortunately most of these early Mestizo artists painted anonymously, by insistence of the Spanish.