location of pre-Columbian Inca ruins located in the mountains at an altitude of about 2350 m
above sea level. Machu Picchu is above the Urubamba Valley in Peru, about 70 km northwest of
Cusco.
It is a symbol of the most famous Incan Empire. Built in about 1450, but abandoned a hundred
years later, when the Spaniards had conquered the Incan Empire. This site was forgotten by the
international community, but not by the local community. This site re-discovered by
archaeologists from Hiram Bingham III, Yale University who discovered it back in 1911.
Since then, Machu Picchu became a tourist attraction that appeals to local and foreign tourists.
Machu Picchu was built by the ancient Incan style with walls of polished stone. The main building
is Intihuatana, Temple of the Sun, and Three Window Room. These places are referred to as the
Sacred District of Machu Picchu.
The site has been designated as a UNESCO world Heritage Site since 1983, Machu Picchu is
also one of the Seven Wonders of the New World, is also getting attention due to the damage
caused by tourism (the number of visitors reached 400,000 in 2003). In September of 2007, Peru
did legal efforts with the achievement of an agreement with Yale University to retrieve artifacts
have been brought by Bingham from the site in the early 20th century.
