Machu Picchu: The Lost City of the Incas

On July 7, Peru celebrates the Day of Machu Picchu. The American explorer Hiram Bingham rediscovered the lost city by accident in 1911.

The Machu Picchu site has a clear structure. There is an area for palaces in the southeastern part. The western part is centered around the main temple for sacrificial rituals which is across from a residential area that is packed with two-storey houses separated with narrow winding paths and stairs often coming to dead-ends. The city also had an underground prison and a guillotine.

Archaeologists suggest that Machu Picchu, which is located on a mountain ridge 2,450 meters (8,038 ft) above sea level, was built as an estate for the Inca emperor Pachacuti around 1400 A.D. The city served as a sacred shelter for priests, noblemen, astrologers, sculptors and artists. It was unknown to the outside world for almost 400 years. Machu Picchu was never found by the Spanish and the Incas never told anyone about the city.

In 1532, when the Conquistadors invaded the Incan Empire, its inhabitants mysteriously disappeared from the area.

In 2007, Machu Picchu was chosen as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.