Machu
Picchu is a pre-Columbian Inca site located 2,430 metres (8,000 ft)
above sea level. It is situated on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba
Valley in Peru, which is 80 kilometres (50 miles) northwest of Cuzco and
through which the Urubamba River flows. Often referred to as “The Lost
City of the Incas”, Machu Picchu is one of the most familiar symbols of
the Inca Empire.
The Incas started building it around AD
1430 but was abandoned as an official site for the Inca rulers a hundred
years later at the time of the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire.
Although known locally, it was largely unknown to the outside world
before being brought to international attention in 1911 by Hiram
Bingham, an American historian. Since then, Machu Picchu has become an
important tourist attraction.
Machu Picchu was declared a Peruvian
Historical Sanctuary in 1981 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983.
Since it was not plundered by the Spanish when they conquered the Incas,
it is especially important as a cultural site and is considered a
sacred place.
Machu Picchu was built in the classical
Inca style, with polished dry-stone walls. Its primary buildings are the
Intihuatana, the Temple of the Sun, and the Room of the Three Windows.
These are located in what is known by archaeologists as the Sacred
District of Machu Picchu. In September 2007, Peru and Yale University
reached an agreement regarding the return of artifacts which Hiram
Bingham had removed from Machu Picchu in the early twentieth century.
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