Machu Picchu - Peru, Part II Beautiful Photo Collection...

Machu Picchu - Peru, Beautiful Photo Collection...

Machu Picchu (Quechua: Machu Picchu, "Old mountain") is a pre-Columbian Inca site located 2,400 meters (7,875 ft) above sea level. It is situated on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru, which is 80 km (50 mi) northwest of Cusco. Often referred to as "The Lost City of the Incas", Machu Picchu is probably the most familiar symbol of the Inca Empire.





The Incas started building the estate around AD 1400 but it was abandoned as an official site for the Inca rulers a century later at the time of the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire. Although known locally, it was unknown to the outside world before being brought to international attention in 1911 by the American historian Hiram Bingham. 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.

"Sacred Valley" Amazing Place - South America, Peru...

Peru’s Sacred Valley usually refers to a roughly 60-km stretch of land between the cities of Pisac and Ollantaytambo. Just 16 km south of Cusco, the ancient capital of the Inca Empire, the Sacred Valley often misses out to the more famous site of Machu Picchu – but as the following images show, quite undeservedly so as Sacred Valley offers stunning Andes Mountains views, winding roads and mind-boggling Inca architecture.

























Giant bathtub?



Moyoc Marca, the remains of a tower: