Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu
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Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu*
UNESCO World Heritage Site

View of Huayna Picchu towering above the ruins of Machu Picchu
State Party
Peru
Type
Mixed
Criteria
i, iii, vii, ix
Reference
274
Region†
Latin America and the Caribbean
Inscription History
Inscription
1983 (7th Session)
* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List.† Region as classified by UNESCO.
Machu Picchu (IPA pronunciation: ['mɑ.tʃu 'pik.tʃu][1]) (Quechua: Machu Pikchu Old Peak; sometimes called the "Lost City") is a pre-Columbian city created by the Inca Empire. It is located at 2,430 m (7,970 ft)[2] on a mountain ridge. Machu Picchu is located above the Urubamba Valley in Peru, about 70 km (44 mi) northwest of Cusco. Forgotten for centuries by the outside world, although not by locals, it was brought back to international attention by archaeologist Hiram Bingham in 1911, who made the first scientific confirmation of the site and wrote a best-selling work about it. Peru is pursuing legal efforts to retrieve thousands of artifacts that Bingham removed from the site [3]. Machu Picchu is probably the most familiar symbol of the Inca Empire. Often referred to as "The Lost City of the Incas". The site was designated as a World Heritage Site in 1983 when it was described as "an absolute masterpiece of architecture and a unique testimony to the Inca civilization".[4]
Contents[show]
1 History
2 Location
3 Machu Picchu sanctuary
4 Three sectors
5 Architecture
6 Inca road system
7 Rediscovery
8 Visiting Machu Picchu
9 Concerns over tourism
10 Views of Machu Picchu
11 See also
12 Notes
13 References
14 External links
//

The Intihuatana ("sun-tier") is believed to have been designed as an astronomic clock by the Incas

History
Machu Picchu was constructed around 1450, at the height of the Inca empire, and was abandoned less than 100 years later, as the empire collapsed under Spanish conquest. Although the citadel is located only about 50 miles from Cusco, the Inca capital, it was never found and destroyed by the Spanish, as were many other Inca sites. Over the centuries, the surrounding jungle grew to enshroud the site, and few knew of its existence. In 1911, Yale historian and explorer Hiram Bingham brought the "lost" city to the world’s attention. Bingham and others hypothesized that the citadel was the traditional birthplace of the Inca people or the spiritual center of the "virgins of the sun," while curators of a recent exhibit have speculated that Machu Picchu was a royal retreat.
It is thought that the site was chosen for its unique location and geological features. It is said that the silhouette of the mountain range behind Machu Picchu represents the face of the Inca looking upward towards the sky, with the largest peak, Huayna Picchu (meaning Young Peak), representing his pierced nose.
In 1913, the site received significant publicity after the National Geographic Society devoted their entire April issue to Machu Picchu.
On July 7th, 2007, Machu Picchu was voted as one of New Open World Corporation's New Seven Wonders of the World.

Location of Machu Picchu.

Location
Machu Picchu is 70 kilometers northwest of Cusco, on the crest of the mountain Machu Picchu, located about 2,350 meters above sea level. It is one of the most important archaeological centers in South America and the most visited tourist attraction in Peru.
From the top, at the cliff of Machu Picchu, is a vertical precipice of 600 meters ending at the foot of the Urubamba River. The location of the city was a military secret because its deep precipices and mountains were an excellent natural defense.

Machu Picchu sanctuary
In 1981 an area of 325.92 square kilometres surrounding Machu Picchu was declared a "Historical Sanctuary" of Peru. This area, which is not only limited to the ruins themselves, also includes the regional landscape with its flora and fauna, highlighting the abundance of orchids.
One theory maintains that Machu Picchu was an Incan "llacta": a settlement built up to control the economy of the conquered regions and that it may have been built with the purpose of protecting the most select of the Incan aristocracy in the event of an attack. Based on research conducted by scholars such as John Rowe and Richard Burger, most archaeologists now believe that, rather than a defensive retreat, Machu Picchu was an estate of the Inca emperor Pachacuti. Johan Reinhard presents evidence that the site was selected based on its position relative to sacred landscape features, especially mountains that are in alignment with key astronomical events.

Temple of the Sun

Three sectors
According to the archaeologists, the urban sector of Machu Picchu was divided into three great districts: the Sacred District, the Popular District, to the south, and the District of the Priests and the Nobility (royalty zone).
Located in the first zone are the primary archaeological treasures: the Intihuatana, the Temple of the Sun and the Room of the Three Windows. These were dedicated to Inti, their sun god and greatest deity. The Popular District, or Residential District, is the place where the lower class people lived. It includes storage buildings and simple houses to live in.
In the royalty area, a sector existed for the nobility: a group of houses located in rows over a slope; the residence of the Amautas (wise persons) was characterized by its reddish walls, and the zone of the Ñustas (princesses) had trapezoid-shaped rooms. The Monumental Mausoleum is a carved statue with a vaulted interior and carved drawings. It was used for rites or sacrifices.

Inca wall at Machu Picchu

Architecture
All of the construction in Machu Picchu uses the classic Inca architectural style of polished dry-stone walls of regular shape. The Incas were masters of this technique, called ashlar, in which blocks of stone are cut to fit together tightly without mortar. Many junctions in the central city are so perfect that not even a knife fits between the stones.
The Incas never used the wheel in any practical manner. How they moved and placed enormous blocks of stones is a mystery, although the general belief is that they used hundreds of men to push the stones up inclined planes. It is unknown if the Incas left behind any documentation about that process; if there is narrative information in the record keeping system they employed, called khipus, which is currently not readable[5]
The space is composed of 140 constructions including temples, sanctuaries, parks and residences, houses with thatched roofs.
There are more than one hundred flights of stone steps – often completely carved in a single block of granite – and a great number of water fountains, interconnected by channels and water-drainages perforated in the rock, designed for the original irrigation system. Evidence has been found to suggest that the irrigation system was used to carry water from a holy spring, to each of the houses in turn, the order being dictated by the perceived holiness of the inhabitants.

View of Machu Picchu from Huayna Picchu, showing the Hiram Bingham Highway used by buses carrying tourists to and from the town of Aguas Calientes.

Inca road system
Main article: Inca road system
Among the thousands of roads constructed by the pre-Columbian cultures in South America, the roads of the Inca were some of the most interesting. This network of roads converged at Cusco, the capital of the Inca Empire. One of them went to the city of Machu Picchu. The Incas distinguished between coastal roads and mountain roads, the former was called Camino de los llanos (road of the plains) and the latter was called Cápac Ñam.
Today, tens of thousands of tourists walk the Inca roads – particularly The Inca Trail – each year, acclimatising at Cusco before starting on a two- to four-day journey on foot from the Urubamba valley up through the Andes mountain range.

View of the city of Machu Picchu in 1911.

Rediscovery
On July 24, 1911, Machu Picchu was brought to the attention of the West by Hiram Bingham, an American historian then employed as a lecturer at Yale University. He was led there by locals who frequented the site. This explorer/archaeologist began the archaeological studies there and completed a survey of the area. Bingham coined the name "The Lost City of the Incas", which was the title of his first book. He never gave any credit to those who led him to Machu Picchu, mentioning only "local rumor" as his guide.
Bingham had been searching for the city of Vitcos, the last Inca refuge and spot of resistance during the Spanish conquest of Peru. In 1911, after various years of previous trips and explorations around the zone, he was led to the citadel by Quechuans who were living in Machu Picchu in the original Inca infrastructure. Bingham made several more trips and conducted excavations on the site through 1915. He wrote a number of books and articles about the discovery of Machu Picchu.
During the early years in Peru, Bingham built strong relationships with top Peruvian officials. As a result, he had little trouble obtaining necessary permission, paperwork, and permits to travel throughout the country and borrow archeological artifacts. Upon returning to Yale University, Bingham had collected around 5,000 such objects to be kept in Yale's care until such time as the Peruvian government requested their return. Recently, the Peruvian government requested the return of all cultural material, and at the refusal of Yale University to do so, began to consider legal action. [6]
Simone Waisbard, a long-time researcher of Cusco, claims Enrique Palma, Gabino Sánchez and Agustín Lizárraga left their names engraved on one of the rocks there on July 14, 1901, having re-discovered it before Bingham. Likewise, in 1904 an engineer named Franklin spotted the ruins from a distant mountain. He told Thomas Paine, an English Plymouth Brethren Christian missionary living in the region, about the site. In 1906, Paine and another Brethren missionary named Stuart E McNairn (1867-1956) climbed up to the ruins. Five years later, in 1911, Paine talked with Bingham and outfitted him with guides and mules for journey to the site.
What makes Bingham the "rediscoverer" of Machu Picchu is the fact that he was the one who brought Machu Picchu to the world's attention.

View looking down the terraced steps to the Urubamba river

Visiting Machu Picchu
All visits to Machu Picchu at some point leave from Cusco, which can be reached via a domestic flight from Lima. Taking the tourist train from Cusco (which takes 3.5 hours to get to Machu Picchu), you have several options.
The most common way is to take the train to Machu Picchu in the morning, explore the ruins for a few hours and return to Cusco in the afternoon. The train terminates at Puente Ruinas station, where buses take tourists up the mountain to Machu Picchu. Strangely, Machu Picchu station is at Aguas Calientes (2km before Puente Ruinas station) but is not the station used by tourists on a day trip.
Another option is to hike the Inca Trail, on either a four-day or two-day version, both of which are controlled by the government. They require travelers to be reasonably fit. The trip takes a few days, and involves sleeping in tents.
Another option is to stay overnight near the ruins themselves, rather than return on the same day. There are many hotels at nearby Aguas Calientes [1], but only one hotel at Machu Picchu itself [2]. Buses run from Aguas Calientes to the ruins throughout the day, an 8 km ride up the mountain (approximately one and a half hours by walking).
A helicopter service from Cusco to Aguas Calientes, via a 24 passenger Russian Mi-8 helicopter, is also available. Helicopter flights direct into Machu Picchu stopped in the 1970s due to concern about their damage to the ruins.

Concerns over tourism
Machu Picchu is a UNESCO World Heritage site. As Peru’s most visited tourist attraction and major revenue generator, it is continually threatened by economic and commercial forces. In the late 1990s, the Peruvian government granted concessions to allow the construction of a cable car to the ruins and development of a luxury hotel, including a tourist complex with boutiques and restaurants. These plans were met with protests from scientists, academics and the Peruvian public, worried that the greater numbers of visitors which would pose tremendous physical burdens on the ruins.
A growing number of people visit Machu Picchu (400,000 in 2003[7]), For this reason, there were protests against a plan to build a further bridge to the site[8] and a no-fly zone exists in the area.[9] UNESCO is considering putting Machu Picchu on its list of endangered World Heritage Sites.[8]
Damage to the site due to usage has occurred. In September 2000 a centuries-old sundial at Machu Picchu was damaged by the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency while filming an advertisement for Cusqueña beer.[3]