Machu Picchu (Peru)

Machu Picchu is an Inca site in Peru that is thought to have been built as an estate for Pachacuti, an Incan emperor. It was built in the 15th century, approximately around 1450. It was abandoned as a place for Inca rulers in about 1572. It was discovered by the outside world in 1911and has since become a tourist attraction. By 1976 at least 30% of the site had been restored and those restoration efforts still continue today.

Interesting Facts about  Machu Picchu 

Machu Picchu is also known as the Lost City of the Incas.

It is located on the eastern Andes mountain slopes in a tropical mountain forest. There are terraces and walls that look as if they were cut from the rock.

It is 7,970 feet above sea level.

Yale Professor Hiram Bingham is thought to be one of the first non-Peruvians to lay eyes on the site in 1911.   It was named a Peruvian Historical Sanctuary in 1981, and two years later, in 1983 UNESCO classified it as a World Heritage Site.

• It is one of the most important historical Latin American sites and covers an area of 32,500 hectares. Machu Picchu was built with polished dry stone walls. 

• To visit the site today it takes either a four day or two day journey by foot. It can also be reached by train that only takes a few hours. 

• One of the reasons Machu Picchu may have been abandoned is because of an outbreak of smallpox. 

•  A pole was done in 2007, resulting in it becoming one of the Seven Wonders of the World.  

 

Machu Picchu Layout

 

The geographical shape of the site also helped dividing the city into the upper and lower town, each with its own distinct functions and uses: temples in the upper town and warehouses in the lower town. Around the wide central square, which is located on the mountain top, approximately 200 buildings are placed on wide parallel terraces.

 

Intihuatana stone

 Every inca city had an Intihuatana stone. That stone was set to point directly at the sun when the winter solstice came. The inca believed it held the sun (Inti) in place during his journey along the sky.

Roads and Transportation

The Inca Trail is a road built by Incas, that is still used today by the many tourists who come to visit the lost city. 

Discover the great mysteries of the lost city of the Incas, in the most very impressive way, by visiting Machu Picchu and seeing its wonders.