Skip to main content

Machu Picchu, Cuzco, Peru

Machu Picchu is a 15th-century Inca citadel located in the Eastern Cordillera of southern Peru on a 2,430 m (7,970 ft) mountain ridge.

Often referred to as the "Lost City of the Incas", it is the most familiar icon of the Inca Empire.

Machu Picchu was built in the classical Inca style, with polished dry-stone walls.

Its three primary structures are the Temple of the Sun, the Temple of the Three Windows, and the Intihuatana.

Machu Picchu Plan
Plan Legend:

  1. Main entrance
  2. To Machu Picchu Mountain
  3. "Qolqas" Storage
  4. To Sun Gate
  5. To Inca bridge
  6. Photographic zone
  7. Guard House
  8. Funerary stone
  9. East agricultural sector
  10. Main gate
  11. Temple of the Three Windows
  12. Intiwatana
  13. To Huayna Picchu
  14. Temple of the Sun or Torreón
  15. Main square
  16. Cerimonial rock
  17. Group of the Three Doorways
  18. Temple of the Condor

Panorama of Machu Picchu Mountain
Machu Picchu lies 80 kilometers (50 miles) northwest of Cusco, on the crest of the mountain Machu Picchu (Plan No. 2), located about 2,430 meters (7,970 feet) above mean sea level, over 1,000 meters (3,300 ft) lower than Cusco, which has an elevation of 3,400 meters (11,200 ft).

  • As such, it had a milder climate than the Inca capital.
  • It is one of the most important archaeological sites in South America, one of the most visited tourist attractions in Latin America and the most visited in Peru.

Panorama of the "Qolqas" Storage (left) and Huayna Picchu mountain (center).
The site is roughly divided into an urban sector and an agricultural sector, and into an upper town and a lower town.

  • The temples are in the upper town, the warehouses (Plan No. 3) in the lower.

Fork in the climbing stairs

  • To the left we go to the upper platform and to Machu Picchu Mountain.
  • To the right we go to the lower platform.

Path to the Sun Gate
Two high-altitude routes from Machu Picchu cross the mountains back to Cusco, one through the Sun Gate (Plan No. 4), and the other across the Inca bridge.

  • Both could be blocked easily, should invaders approach along them.

Path to Machu Picchu Mountain (Plan No. 2)

Photographic zone (center, Plan No. 6) and Huayna Picchu Mountain (right, Plan No. 13).

Panorama from the path to the Inca bridge
In this photo we can see Machu Picchu (left), the Guard's house (Plan No. 7) and the Funerary stone (center, Plan No. 8) and the East agricultural sector (right, Plan No. 9).

  • The Inca bridge, an Inca grass rope bridge, across the Urubamba River in the Pongo de Mainique, provided a secret entrance for the Inca army.
  • Another Inca bridge (Plan No. 5) was built to the west of Machu Picchu, the tree-trunk bridge, at a location where a gap occurs in the cliff that measures 6 meters (20 ft).

Machu Picchu seen from the path to the Inca bridge (Plan No. 5).
View from southeast to northwest.


Photographic zone (Plan No. 6)

Guard's house
The Guardhouse (Plan No. 7) is a three-sided building, with one of its long sides opening onto the Terrace of the Ceremonial Rock.

  • The three-sided style of Inca architecture is known as the wayrona style.

Panorama of Machu Picchu from the Photographic zone (Plan No. 6).
In this photo we can see Machu Picchu (left), the Guard's house (center left, Plan No. 7) and the Funerary stone (center right, Plan No. 8) and the East agricultural sector (right, Plan No. 9).


Panorama of Machu Picchu seen from the Guardhouse (Plan No. 7).
In this photo we see Machu Picchu (left), the East agricultural sector (center, Plan No. 9) and the guard's house (right, Plan No. 7).


Machu Picchu seen from the Guardhouse (Plan No. 7)
The architecture is adapted to the mountains.

  • Approximately 200 buildings are arranged on wide parallel terraces around an east–west central square.
  • The various compounds, called kanchas, are long and narrow in order to exploit the terrain.

Panorama of Machu Picchu (left) and the East agricultural sector (right, Plan No. 9).
Much of the farming done at Machu Picchu was done on its hundreds of man-made terraces.

  • These terraces were a work of considerable engineering, built to ensure good drainage and soil fertility while also protecting the mountain itself from erosion and landslides.
  • However, the terraces were not perfect, as studies of the land show that there were landslides that happened during the construction of Machu Picchu.
  • Still visible are places where the terraces were shifted by landslides and then stabilized by the Inca as they continued to build around the area.
  • Terraces constructed overlooking the Urubamba River and many other springs provided fresh water for crop production and served more than 1,000 households.

Panorama of the East agricultural sector (Plan No. 9)
Terrace farming area makes up only about 4.9 ha (12 acres) of land, and a study of the soil around the terraces showed that what was grown there was mostly corn and potatoes, which was not enough to support the 750+ people living at Machu Picchu.

  • This explains why studies done on the food that the Inca ate at Machu Picchu suggest it was imported from the surrounding valleys and farther afield.
  • It is estimated that the area around the site has received more than 1,800 mm (71 in) of rain per year since AD 1450, which was more than that needed to support crop growth. Because of the ample rainfall at Machu Picchu, it was found that irrigation was not usually needed for the terraces. The terraces received so much rain that they were built by Incan engineers specifically to allow for ample drainage of excess water.

Main gate (Plan No. 10)

Houses and small cave after the main gate
Stone stairways set in the walls allowed access to the different levels across the site.


Huayna Picchu mountain (top), Intiwatana (center) and Temple of the Three Windows (bottom).
This photo shows the Huayna Picchu mountain (top, Plan No. 13), Intiwatana (center, Plan No. 12) and Temple of the Three Windows (bottom, Plan No. 11).

  • The Intihuatana stone is one of many ritual stones in South America. These stones are arranged to point directly at the Sun during the winter solstice.
  • The name of the stone (perhaps coined by Bingham) derives from Quechua language: inti means "sun", and wata-, "to tie, hitch (up)". The suffix -na derives nouns for tools or places. Hence Intihuatana is literally an instrument or place to "tie up the sun", often expressed in English as "The Hitching Post of the Sun". The Inca believed the stone held the Sun in its place along its annual path in the sky.
  • See more at Intihuatana, Urubamba - Wikipedia.

Small cave next to the Temple of the Three Windows (Plan No. 11).

Temple of the Sun or Torreón (Plan No. 14)
This semicircular temple is built on the same rock overlying Bingham's "Royal Mausoleum", and is similar to the Temple of the Sun found in Cusco and the Temple of the Sun found in Pisac, in having what Bingham described as a "parabolic enclosure wall". The stonework is of ashlar quality.

  • Within the temple is a 1.2 m (3.9 ft) by 2.7 m (12.1 ft) rock platform, smooth on top except for a small platform on its southwest quadrant.
  • A "Serpent's Door" faces 340°, or just west of north, opening onto a series of 16 pools, and affording a view of Huayna Picchu.
  • The temple also has two trapezoidal windows, one facing 65°, called the "Solstice Window", and the other facing 132°, called the "Qullqa Window".

Panorama of the north wall of the Temple of the Three Windows (Plan No. 11).

Panorama of the east wall of the Temple of the Three Windows (Plan No. 11).
The three windows (center) overlook the Main Square (Plan No. 15).


Panorama of the north wall of the Temple of the Three Windows (Plan No. 11).

Panorama of the Guardhouse (Plan No. 7) seen from Machu Picchu.

Walking through the Main Square (Plan No. 15)

Panorama of the Main Square (Plan No. 15)
View from north to south.


Houses next to the Ceremonial rock (Plan No. 16)

Cerimonial rock (Plan No. 16)
This is the name given to a flat-faced stone placed on a wide pedestal.

  • It is a landmark that marks the northern end of the city and is the starting point of the road to Huayna Picchu (Plan No. 13).

Huayna Picchu (Plan No. 13)
A study published in 2021 in Ñawpa Pacha: Journal of the Institute of Andean Studies suggests that, in the Quechua language, the abandoned Inca site was called "Huayna Picchu", after the smaller peak at the site, or perhaps, just "Picchu". Huayna means "young" in the Quechua language.

  • The research documents that, starting in 1911 with the publications of American historian and explorer Hiram Bingham, the name Machu Picchu became associated with the ruins.

Going through the Group of the Three Doorways (Plan No. 17).

Temple of the Three Windows (Plan No. 11) seen from the Group of the Three Doorways (Plan No. 17).
View from east to west.


Panorama of the East agricultural sector (Plan No. 9)
In this panorama we can see the "Qolqas" Storage (Plan No. 3) on the left, the Guard House (Plan No. 7) in the center, and the Temple of the Sun (Plan No. 14) on the right.


Temple of the Condor (Plan No. 18)
Little information describes human sacrifices at Machu Picchu, though many sacrifices were never given a proper burial, and their skeletal remains succumbed to the elements. However, there is evidence that retainers were sacrificed to accompany a deceased noble in the afterlife.

  • Animal, liquid and dirt sacrifices to the gods were more common and were made at the Altar of the Condor.

Temple of the Sun (Plan No. 14) seen from the Temple of the Condor (Plan No. 18).
View from northeast to southwest.


Water sources
Heavy rainfall required terraces and stone chips to drain rain water and prevent mudslides, landslides, erosion, and flooding.

  • Terraces were layered with stone chips, sand, dirt, and topsoil, to absorb water and prevent it from running down the mountain.
  • Similar layering protected the large city center from flooding.
  • Multiple canals and reserves throughout the city provided water that could be supplied to the terraces for irrigation and to prevent erosion and flooding.

Small cave in the area of the Temple of the Condor and the water sources.

Group of the Three Doorways (Plan No. 17) seen from the East agricultural sector (Plan No. 9).
View from southeast to northwest.


Panorama of the eastern slope of Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu Hiking Trail
The classic Inca Trail Route is 43 km (26 mi) long and often steep, you will hike over four days at an elevation nearing 13,828 feet (4,215 meters).

  • Although rated moderate, the relentless uphill (and downhill) hiking is tough.

See also

Source

Location

Location: 08680, Peru