Machu Picchu

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Machu Picchu Peru
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The legendary 'Lost City of Machu Picchu' is
without a doubt the most important tourist
attraction in Peru and one of the world's most
impressive archaeological sites.
Machu Picchu means Old Peak named for the
mountain rising behind the city.
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It sits on a mountain site of extraordinary
beauty, in the middle of a tropical mountain
forest, The whole archaeological complex covers
approximately 5 square kms. It is situated in the
high jungle. Its climate is semi-tropical, warm
and humid.
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Machu Picchu is said to have been inhabited by
the Inca in the mid 1400s. The site was lost
and hidden from civilization for over 400 years
until it was rediscovered by archeologist Hiram
Bingham in 1911. The great mountain peak that
rises up behind the city is sometimes called The
hitching post of the sun.
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Machu Picchu Temple of the Sun (also named "the
watch tower"),
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All of the construction in Machu Picchu uses the
classic Inca architectural style of polished
dry-stone walls of regular shape. The Incas were
masters of this technique, called ashlar, in
which blocks of stone are cut to fit together
tightly without mortar. Many junctions are so
perfect that not even a knife fits between the
stones.
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There are more than one hundred flights of stone
steps often completely carved in a single block
of granite and a great number of water
fountains, interconnected by channels and
water-drainages perforated in the rock, designed
for the original irrigation system.
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Machu Picchu is a complex of temples, palaces and
observatories and was the home of the Inca ruling
classes. From here, high priests made
observations and calculations enabling them to
chart the heavens - a knowledge which gave them
both religious authority and temporal power.
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No one is certain why the once thriving city of
the Incas suddenly became abandoned, and was left
uninhabited and hidden in the jungle for the next
400 years.
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