Machu Picchu, Site View

1424-1550

Name(s) currently unknown

Machu Picchu, PER

Machu Picchu was the summer residence of the Inka nobility, who set out from Cuzco, making the 50 km trek along a winding road that followed the Urubamba river. The site was abandoned around the time of the Spanish conquest, and was left relatively undisturbed until American archeologists were led to the site by a local guide, Melchor Arteaga, at the beginning of the 20th century.

Machu Picchu is remarkable for its careful integration into the surrounding topography. As a nearly pristine example of Inka architectural planning, it was named a World Heritage site in the 1980s and today is one of the most heavily visited sites in all of South America.

Dana Leibsohn and Barbara E. Mundy.
Vistas: Visual Culture in Spanish America, 1520-1820. http://www.fordham.edu/vistas, 2015.

Burger, Richard L. and Lucy C. Salazar. 2004. Machu Picchu: Unveiling the Mystery of the Incas. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.

Valencia Zegarra, Alfredo and Arminda Gibaja Oviedo. 1992. Machu Picchu: la investigación y conservación del monumento arqueológico después de Hiram Bingham. Qosqo [Cuzco]: Municipalidad del Qosqo.