Machu Picchu: The Lost City of the Inkas

Machu Picchu quechua name that means “Old Mountain”. It is an Inca city build approximately between the years 1400 to 1500 by the Inca Pachacutec. It is considered as one of the most important architectonic and archeological jewels of the Incas.

Machu Picchu is located at the top of the mountain that give rise to its name, 130 kilometers at the northeast of Cusco at 2,200 meters of altitude, in the Urubamba valley. It is located at three hours journey by train from the city of Cusco, also it can be reached by helicopter in a thirty minutes trip, or walking four days by the Inca road.

What was Machu Picchu?

It still continues being a non solved unknown factor, an aureole of mystery shrouded everything related to this city. There are many theories about the function of Machu Picchu, there are investigators that postulate that it was eminently a ceremonial center and of sacerdotal education. Other group thinks that was mainly a resort place, game preserve and observatory of the Inca and its royal retinue; however the most accepted theory sustains that it was a settlement build with the objective of supervising the economy of the conquest regions and with the secret purpose to refuge the Inca and its closest retinue in case of attack.

In the year 1983 Machu Picchu was declared “Cultural Heritage of the Human Race” by the UNESCO, it is the most visited tourist destiny of Peru and one of the most important archeological centers of SouthAmerica.