Info on Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu is a pre-Columbian Inca site located on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru. Most archaeologists believe that Machu Picchu was built as an estate for the Inca emperor Pachacuti (1438–1472). It is often called "The Lost City of the Incas", and is perhaps the most familiar icon of the Inca World.

It is believed that the Incas started building Machu Picchu around AD 1400 -- but that it was abandoned a century later when the Spanish conquistadors arrived and started decimating the populace.

Although known ever since by the locals, the "outside world" didn't know about it until 1911 when American historian Hiram Bingham discovered it.

In 1981, Machu Picchu was declared a Peruvian Historical Sanctuary, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983. For some reason the Spanish never plundered the site, so it is especially important as a cultural site and is considered a sacred place.

Built in the classical Inca style, Machu Picchu has polished dry-stone walls. Its primary buildings are the Intihuatana, the Temple of the Sun, and the Room of the Three Windows. These are located in what archaeologists call "the Sacred District."