The road is not just a physical road," he says. "It's a cosmological road, and modern people consider it a living road."
"The Kallawaya (travelling doctors from Bolivia) still use the road to walk and recycle their energy. They say the road has a spirit."
The empire's spiritual centre and capital was Cusco in southeastern Peru. All roads emanated from the city. Along the routes, sacred places were marked by wakas - stone outcroppings, buildings or even the confluence of rivers that served as altars to the Pachamama (Mother Earth) or Inti (the sun god).
Many of those traditions continue today and part of the exhibition explores the way the road still binds people of different ethnicities across the vast Andean region.
"We contacted the Inca descendents and talked to them about how they feel about the road and its meaning," says Matos. "We have had the historical investigation, now we have the oral history.