Machu Picchu
Description:
Machu Picchu is one of the most amazing buildings of ancient America, the splendor of archaeological ruins located on the territory of modern Peru. The “Lost City” of Machu Picchu, included in the UNESCO list, was awarded the title of the New Wonder of the World in 2007. Machu Picchu lies at an altitude of about 2,600 meters above sea level.
The “City in the Sky” was discovered by American professor Hiram Bingham of Yale University in 1911. However, the name of the city still lurks in the depths of centuries. Machu Picchu is the name of a mountain peak located nearby.
In the time of the Incas in the fortress of Machu Picchu allowed only a select few. Here lived the highest nobility, priests, artisans and servants, and, first of all, the mamakunas - chosen virgins who devoted their lives to the service of the sun god.
The whole of Machu Picchu is divided into sectors: cemetery, dungeons, residential area and temples. There are 200 buildings in the city.
The temple of the Three Windows, through the windows of which the sun’s rays hit the sacred square, probably played an important role in the rituals. The three windows reflect the Inca view of the Trinity of the world. According to legend, the three founders of the Inca Empire entered the world through these windows.
A little above the temple is an observatory. In the center of the city stands Intihuatán – the temple of the Sun. This is the only sanctuary of the supreme god of the Incas that has survived to this day. In the area of the temple there are several dwellings for high priests.
Machu Picchu, after receiving UNESCO World Heritage status, became a center of mass tourism. To support tourism, a railway was built to the neighboring town of Aguas Calientes from Cusco via Ollantaytambo, from Ollantaytambo there are more than ten trains a day. But the original Inca trail to Machu Picchu along the Urubamba River is not empty.
The city is located above the valley of the Urubamba River, at the foot of Machu Picchu Mountain, 75 km northwest of the city of Cusco.