Machu Picchu Sanctuary
Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983.
The ancient citadel of Machu Picchu, in the southern Peruvian Andes, is Cusco’s main attraction. Discovered in 1911 by US explorer Hiram Bingham, the citadel is considered to be the most extraordinary example of landscape architecture in the world. Machu Picchu («old mountain» in Quechua, the ancient tongue of the Incas) is located at the top of a mountain that overlooks the deep Urubamba River canyon, in the midst of the tropical jungle. It is believed to have been a center of worship and astronomical observation or the private estate of the Pachacútec Inca family.
