Machu Picchu - The Lost City Inca - Travel & Discover

The sacred city of Machu Picchu is the greatest masterpiece of the Inca civilization. Incredibly daring and inventive, it was built on some of the most difficult, wild, and inaccessible mountain terrain in the region. It is known worldwide not only for its impressive and unique ruins, but also for its unusual location on the edge of an abyss, from which one can beer down upon the savage waters of the Arumbamba River. The mountain Machu Picchu rises above the Vilcabamba chain, where, situated among other snow-capped peaks, towers El Cante at an altitude of 6,271 meters, considered by the Incas to be an Apu, or sacred mountain. The site of Machu Picchu itself is situated at 2,360 meters above sea level. The sanctuary is a citadel made up of palaces and temples, dwellings and storehouses, but above all of buildings which clearly fulfilled ceremonial religious functions, the more luxurious and spectacular components of which are mausoleums carved into the rock. July 24, 1911 is known as the date of the discovery of the famous Inca citadel of Machu Picchu, an architectural treasure that had remained hidden for over four centuries under the lush jungle vegetation of the Arumbamba Canyon. This find was made by the controversial American anthropologist and historian with a penchant for archaeology, Professor Hiram Bingham of Yale University, a descendant of missionaries. The importance of Bingham's discovery would lie in its scientific diffusion. For the protagonist of this discovery, it was the crowning achievement of an exhausting research effort based on information obtained from local peasants, as well as several years of traveling and exploring the area. Hiram Bingham and his team worked intensively in the Machu Picchu archaeological site for five years, excavating practically every square meter of it. They found ancient tombs, mummies and the remains of 173 people together with their belongings, including clothes, food, ceramics and ornaments. Built for religious and military purposes, the sacred city of Machu Picchu was enclosed by a six meter high by 1.8 meter wide wall. Machu Picchu can be divided into two major sections, the urban and the agricultural. Each part encloses two subsections, the western and eastern, which are defined in relation to their topographic location. The agricultural sector is divided into higher and lower ground. The higher ground consists of five premises, the temple and over 40 terraces. The lower ground meanwhile comprises seven premises, four open areas and approximately 80 terraces. Some of the numerous agricultural terraces, which are placed in succession, are connected by stone stairways fitted into the walls, while others are linked by various sets of stone steps forming corridors. The layout of the terraces and platforms is in perfect harmony with the mountains surrounding the site, thus the hillsides seem to be sculpted to complement the natural forms of the landscape. The urban sector, which is clearly separated from the agricultural area by a perimeter wall, was only approachable through an imposing double-jamb facade. This architectural detail was typical of the building style of the Incas. The Inca trail, which ends here, links the city of Cusco with Machu Picchu. The urban section is composed of 172 premises of the most diverse shapes and sizes, connected by 109 stairways, which allowed the Incas to traverse Machu Picchu's uneven terrain. The buildings generally consist of a single story with a rectangular plan. The windows and gates are trapezoidal in shape, as well as the niches designed to house idols or other objects. The passage of time has removed the building's roofs, which are thought to have The Incas relied heavily upon the domesticated Andean llama, which were necessary to transport goods in the mountainous terrain that joins Cusco and Machu Picchu. The citadel was entered by one of the elegant trapezoidal portals that must have been carefully guarded inside and out, and which was kept closed with a door, presumably made of tree trunks. Housings for the fastenings remain visible in the stone of the inside face. The portal is in classic Inca style, elongated and trapezoidal, wide at the base and narrower at the lintel. The lintel and the jambs are made of fine carved ashlar stone, which indicates they were the exposed face. However, on the portal and to its sides there is rusticune stone, which indicates that the defense wall as a whole must have been finished, presumably with stucco or plaster, and perhaps paint. To each side of the entrance path lies the vestibular building, a series of rooms that serve to lodge the guards, occasional foreign visitors, and others as needed. Situated to the right above the entrance path on rocky terrain, which is part of the crest of the mountain that divides the site into two faces, west and east, are chambers that could be rooms for guards. They are entered by a flight of narrow steps located almost in the center of the path. The chambers are some five in number and seem to have formed two simple houses of two or three rooms, associated with an irregular space with rocks and natural forest. A high wall supporting a terrace separates them from the path. An opening in the wall gives access to the royal palace. It has been given this name on the supposition that whoever occupied this building were persons of special importance in the hierarchy of the inhabitants of Machu Picchu. A small chamber stands on the upper part of the flight of steps, just before the entrance to the palace. After crossing a short passage, also flagged, there is a narrow cell which must have housed a dog or some other type of animal used as a guard, which was tied to a ring carved in one of the large stones on the south wall. All the buildings in Machu Picchu follow the classic Inca architectural style. Buildings with irregular walls, perfect joints between the stone blocks, and a gentle slope, making the base slightly wider than the top. Gates with a trapezoidal shape and niches and sculptures are used as part of the architectural design and decoration. The Incas built their walls with huge boulders carved to fit together perfectly, without the use of mortar. The larger stones that form the walls of Incan buildings generally display two high relief carvings or moldings in the lower part of their faces. Prior to building, the Incas made sketches or models of the planned construction, using a measurement system and scale, based on arthropometry, that is, the measurements are related to those of the human body, arms, elbows, feet, steps, spans, etc. Unfortunately, none of these designs have survived. Questions exist regarding how the stones were fitted together so precisely. Various hypotheses have been put forward, the most feasible of which suggests that the construction work was carried out extremely slowly, but efficiently. After the first row of stones had been laid, the laying of each successive row was more complex, because the stones had to fit laterally with the junctures of the preceding layers. A breathtaking panoramic view can be had on the way to the hill of Intihuatana, the Temple of the Sun. The hill was remodeled artificially and converted into a sort of stepped pyramid with a polygonal ground plan. One arrives at this place by ascending the flight of steps that begins north of the Sacred Plaza, behind the main temple. Continuing north, other flights of steps go down the hill and arrive at the north end of the main plaza, where one finds the platform that houses the group of the Sacred Rock. Intihuatana, or the Sun's Hitching Post, is located at the top of the Sacred Hill. It is formed by a number of platforms and terraces, and accessed by a 78-step stairway that leads up to an open courtyard with finely worked walls. The Intihuatana performed two functions. It was to measure time, solstice and equinox, from the sun's rays, and served as an altar. The word Intihuatana, that signifies carved stones generally, was first used by George Squire in 1877 and has not been found in any ancient chronicle. The correct names for it would have been those used by the chroniclers, Saiwa or Sukanka. Intihuatana may be translated as the Hitching Post of the Sun, or simply the Sun's Clasp. Three chambers of fine masonry are associated with the Intihuatana itself. One has a rectangular floor plan, although it does not have any visible entrance giving directly onto the terrace that houses the sculpted rock. Another room has two windows alternating with niches on its rear wall, and a window in each one of its side walls, as well as opening in all the walls. On one of the terraces there are three steps carved out of the granite. The terrace is rectangular in shape, though only two of its walls have been preserved. A carved and polished monolith stands at the center of the terrace. The sculpted rock, 1.8 meters high, has an irregular plan at the base and a vertical prismatic column at its peak. In Inca civilization, stone was a central part of a complex system for making astronomical measurements to determine the beginning and end of the harvest cycle, and was also apparently used as a ritual altar. On the winter solstice, June 21st, the Quechua celebrated Inti Remi, the festival of the sun. This was the most important celebration in Inca culture. On that day, the sun is at its farthest from the earth. For this reason, the Quechuas were afraid that their Tatya Inti, or son-father, would abandon them, and thus held a number of different rituals to beg the sun not to leave them, including a symbolic hitching or mooring of the sun to the The Incas in Incan civilization had no need to measure the day in hours and minutes. The time of day could be easily determined according to the sun's height in the sky, just as it is today by rural dwellers. The site of Machu Picchu is in the middle of steeply sloped mountains and is flanked by the profound canyon that the Arubamba River forms as it passes through this part of the Vilcanota Basin. The canyon that is formed is so deep, and the sides are so steep, they only permit the construction of agricultural terraces in order to grow food. There is no flat arable land. Arubamba is the same river where the sacred valley of the Incas begins, skillfully transformed with irrigation systems, the channeling of the riverbed, and the engineering of terraces for agricultural inhabitation. The natural setting is forested, tropical and rainy. The sacred rock group stands on the northern end of Machu Picchu's main square. The sacred rock is a natural outcrop almost three meters high, with a flat side which looks to the west. Its irregular profile, like that of the neighboring peaks, has led to speculations about the magical or religious function it might have had. According to the Inca religion, mountains were believed to contain apus or higher spirits. Machu Picchu, like most of the Quechua names of towns and different sites in the region, is a compound word that comes from machu, which means old or ancient, and picchu, meaning peak or mountain. Therefore, Machu Picchu is translated as old mountain. The famous mountain that is seen in front, and appears in many of the most famous pictures of the site, is named Huayna Picchu, young mountain. Unfortunately, the original names of Machu Picchu, Huayna Picchu, and some other proper names used today are contemporary ones. West of the quarry lies the sacred or main plaza of Machu Picchu, which is also its largest. The sacred plaza is located on top of a hill. The buildings that line it are made of the finest carved stones, and have been meticulously put together. Religious rituals were performed on the sacred plaza, and the surrounding buildings served as residences for important figures in Incan society. The temple of the three windows is a fascinating building with three trapezoidal shaped windows, located near the hill where the sacred plaza lies. It is 11 meters long and 8 meters wide. It presently has no roof, and shows no sign of ever having had one. The temple of the windows is a Raiwana type temple, meaning that it only has three walls, and is built of rectangular stones. The temple has seven trapezoidal shaped niches on the central wall, and five on each lateral wall. The main temple is located north of the sacred plaza, very close to the three-windowed temple. It is also 11 meters long and 8 meters wide. Also a Raiwana type temple, its three walls are constructed of stones with rectangular faces, and perfectly snug joints, a style of construction referred to as the imperial Incan wall type, because it was used to build the most important buildings. The main temple shows seven trapezoidal niches on its central wall, and five on each of the lateral ones. The central wall of the main temple is broken on its northeast end. Archaeological studies have demonstrated that this phenomenon consists of a displacement due to rain filtering, although some geologists suggest that it was caused by a geological fault passing under this spot. Machu Picchu's so-called main square is the largest flat open space at the site. It lies towards the northeast and at the feet of the Inti Watana. It was the place where popular ceremonies were performed, along with perhaps the Inti Remi, or Festival of the Sun, just as in Cusco's main square. Near the square are two terraces that were not used for agricultural purposes, but served simply to flatten the terrain. The only way to have flat spaces in Machu Picchu's uneven topography was to create them using terraces. The builders of Machu Picchu must have worked hard to achieve an architectural equilibrium with such an unusual and complex environment. Materials from the surrounding area, such as stone blocks, were used to build the citadel. The construction itself required a level of architectural planning unparalleled for that time. The ancient Peruvians built the city at the back of a spur called Machu Picchu, taking advantage of the low mountain sides and a very small plateau on this great stone block. The site forms part of a rocky outcrop of volcanic origin, extending over more than a hundred square kilometers. All of the existing buildings within the historical sanctuary of Machu Picchu were constructed in a similar architectural style, suggesting the existence of a unified creative vision. The visitor immediately notices the recurrent use of a series of typical Inca elements, revealing a manifest intention of integrating its splendid architecture with the The houses were constructed using complex engineering techniques. Most of the walls were covered with clay, for which the external finishing could have been of simple rubble work composed of irregularly shaped stones. The exposed faces were of diverse structure and configuration, and they sought, it seems, a definite uniformity of style in each one of the canchas, as the complex of rooms around a central patio were called. The floors were finished with a layer of compact clay soil, which was often composed of foundation fillers of stones and earth, so that the resulting surface was flat and smooth. A slipe of perceptible gradient in the floors of uncovered spaces was constructed for drainage purposes. This led to a network for draining rainwater to the dry moat, which surrounds most of the sanctuary. Another network for supplying water throughout the city also existed. The walls of the typical constructions are about 80 centimeters thick, and their foundations can reach a depth of 90 centimeters, although many times they rest directly on the base rock. Generally, the walls are a bit wider and more compact at the base, and narrow toward the top. The roofs were supported by gables with the help of a specially made frame composed of tree trunks, and were fixed with ropes, stakes, and stone rings. The roofs were covered with straw, and thanks to the steep gradient of the roof gables, favored the rapid dispersion of rainwater. The development of the Machu Picchu site dates to approximately 1450, when the Incas reached this place, a 2,440 meter high ridge in the Andes range, with a goal in mind, to build a state for their emperor, Pachacutec. They had the perfect site, but one whose suitability must have been obvious only to an experienced engineer. The mountain slopes are incredibly steep, with sheer drop-offs, which would pose an immense challenge to any construction project. Before the city could be built, Inca engineers had to plan how to channel water from a spring, located at an altitude of 2,458 meters, to the proposed site. They decided upon building a 749 meter long channel, with a nearly 3% gradient. Inside the city walls, the water would be made accessible through a series of 16 fountains, the first of which would be reserved for the emperor. This is how the channel design determined the location of the emperor's residence, and the plan of the entire city of Machu Picchu. Originally, Machu Picchu was established as a regional power center, dependent upon Cusco. This fact can be deduced from its location, strategically chosen because its isolation and inaccessibility made it well-protected, as well as from the number of temples at the site, and their architectonic quality, together with the small amount of canchas, or apartments for extended families. These various features have led to the assumption that Machu Picchu was designed as a small religious and political capital. Naturally, it also served as a residence for the Inca, or any high-ranked dignitary from the capital. Selected nobility also had the privilege of keeping an akiawase, which can be likened to a monastery for chosen women, or virgins of the sun, who were devoted to the cult and to serve the upper classes. Most modern archaeologists and historians claim that Machu Picchu was constructed by Inca Pachacutac, who was the Tawantinsuyu's greatest statesman. The Inca leader, who ruled from 1438 to 1471, used the city as his royal farmstead. The population of Machu Picchu during its apogee has been estimated to have been about 1,000 people, based on the number and size of the buildings that have been found at the site. According to the mummies found by the Bingham expedition, about 80% of Machu Picchu's population were women. This evidence strongly supports the assertion that a major akiawase, or house of chosen women, once existed here. The prettiest and most virtuous women were chosen to serve as the sun's wives. Recent scholarship has suggested that a large part of them were the wives of the Inca leader as well, who was considered the son of the sun, and therefore a living god. Thus the Inca could live in his residence along with his wives. It was normal for the Inca to have hundreds of concubines. One such Inca, Huayna Cuapac, father Huasca and Atahuaypa, was believed to have more than 400 children. Many other buildings at Machu Picchu have pirca-type walls, or walls made of rough mud-bonded stones. The building floor plan in this area is somewhat complex, and includes sectors with diverse names, such as the higher group, three doorway unit, and so on. These buildings served as apartments, storehouses, and various other utilitarian purposes. Other constructions display a variety of interesting features, such as altars, semi-underground buildings, sculpted stones with diverse shapes. Archaeologists have not yet determined the various functions for which such constructions might have been used. One building that lies within Machu Picchu's industrial sector has been given the name the Cluster of Mortars. The architectural features of its walls indicate that it was an important building. Its double wooden door, with an interlocking system consisting of carved stone mortises and stone rods, indicate that the building was used for a very particular purpose. The two meter high walls are built of meticulously carved stone, although the higher walls are made of rougher stones. This difference may indicate that the construction took place in two stages. Within the group there is a room with two round mortars of the same diameter, and displaying the same type of carving, from which the building gets its name, Cluster of Mortars. Some anthropologists say that the mortars were used for milling different products, or for weaving or making pottery, as an industrial activity. Yet the mortars do not appear to have been used. Other archaeologists have suggested that they were used as supports for aribayus, small pointed amphorae used to hold chichi, the Incan corn beer. It has also been suggested that the mortars were filled with water, to act as mirrors for observing the stars on clear nights. Doors are a common sight in Machu Picchu. They are distinguished by the variety of texture, size, and architectural styles, although all have the same trapezoidal shape. Some have only one door jam in lintel, while others have two. Some doors are simple, while others incorporated various security mechanisms, such as stone rings, central trunks, and other devices which serve to tie together beams, to make the doors more secure. The urban plan incorporates narrow streets facilitating passage from one square to another. The site contains four main squares, each at a different level, but which share the characteristic of being rectangular in the classic Inca style. They are interconnected by sunken stairways in the parameters of the terraces. Machu Picchu is not on the route which connected Cusco to the other Inca regions by an intricate network of roads. The main Inca route was known as the Quapacñan. Judging by the number of dwellings, the city must have been inhabited by hundreds of people at least. No clue has been found as to why the site was abandoned only 90 years after its founding. Inca society was distinguished by a strong hierarchy, ruled with absolute power by the Inca chief, who was followed by the nobles. The Inca nobility was given the name orejones, or big ears, by the Spaniards, due to the deformation of their earlobes caused by carrying the heavy jewelry that served to differentiate them in rank. Next in the Inca social hierarchy came the runas, or mitimaes, or the common people, who were forced to perform the mandatory public service referred to as the mitas. Lastly came the yanacunas, who were the household servants. The Inca nation was one in expansion. Its conquest unified it not only under a single authority, but in a single culture, with a religious and cultural expression that included the special rights and customs of the Inca empire. One of the primary mechanisms used to overcome cultural differences among the various peoples was to implant runasimi, or Quechua, as official language throughout the territory. The next step was to establish a social organization based on obedience to a centralized authority and a uniform model for communal living. The following three principles form the foundation of how inhabitants of the Inca empire were expected to behave and constituted the basic laws of the Tahuantinsuyo people. Amasaya, do not steal, Amayuya, do not lie, and Amakeya, do not be lazy. The National Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu is located on a large orogenic granite structure extending over approximately 400 kilometers squared in surface area. Its formation dates to the inferior Paleozoic period, approximately 250 million years ago. The white gray granite of the Vilcapampa province where Machu Picchu is located is an igneous stone formed of approximately 60% feldspar, 30% quartz, and 10% mica. Various other stones in this region belong to the inferior Paleozoic period, such as schist, quartzite, and metamorphic conglomerations that may be up to 350 to 450 million years old. The reasons that led to the depopulation of Machu Picchu have remained a mystery. Various reasons have been conjectured, including that the city was abandoned after a severe epidemic caused by the abundance of insects that populate the humid area where the city was built. Another hypothesis is that it had to be abandoned and closed after the death of the sovereign who had built it for his own use. A third theory suggests that the Andes, one of the tribes living in the Amazonian forest, whose name derives from the name of the Andes mountain chain and the Inca's worst enemies, arrived at Machu Picchu and carried out a massive slaughter which led to the abandonment of the city. What is evident is that the Incan city was closed, abandoned, and forgotten until the early years of the 20th century. A small but fascinating cave was given the name of the royal tomb. It was so called by the anthropologist Bingham, who believed that it may have sheltered the mummy of a nobleman from Cusco, or possibly that of an Incan chief. A carving on the floor is known as a stepping symbol, which represents the three levels of the Andean religious world. In Incan society, all corpses were mummified in a fetal position. The only distinction between the social classes being that mummies of noblemen were kept in temples, while those of common people were buried or placed in cemeteries. There is little doubt that the small cave must have been related to the Ucupacha, or underground world in the cult of the deceased. Inside the small cave, the walls of the grotto and the royal tomb are covered by perfectly joined stones. Two large trapezoidal niches adorn the walls, with projecting fake stone beams at the height of their lintels. The crypt of the condor is located across from the gardens of the royal palace. Its main entrance lets out onto the road that separates this complex from the Akyawasi, the house of the virgins. The crypt has two sections, an upper one linked to a grouping of large rocks, and another lower one with an elegant crypt associated with the allegory of what appears to be a flying condor. The condor, South America's largest bird, was secret to the and still inspires awe among the peoples of the Andes. This temple honors the condor in an abstract way, by using the natural rock formation as the wings, and implanting a triangular stone in the ground to represent the bird's body. Dinka believed in a world of divine spirits composed of three realms. The condor was the god of the sky, the puma was the god of the world of the living, and the snake was the god of the underworld. The condor has long occupied a unique place in the mythology of the Andean people. Finally, across from the patio stands a large building composed of two stories, with two doors on the upper level, and a door and five windows on the lower. The door leads onto long gardens cultivated on two very low terraces, on one of which stands a fountain, the last of a chain that begins to one side of the royal mausoleum, and transversally crosses the citadel. On a large rock stands an altar. The climate in the area of Machu Picchu shares certain characteristics with the region in general. Only two well-defined seasons can be distinguished, the rainy season between September and April, and the dry season from May to August. However, Machu Picchu's location at the beginning of the Cusco Amazonian jungle means that rain showers are possible at any time of the year. On the hottest days, the temperature can rise to 26 degrees Celsius, while on the coldest early mornings in June and July, the temperature may drop to as low as two degrees below zero. The Temple of the Sun is a semi-circular edifice built on solid rock. The building contains two trapezoidal-shaped windows, which, according to chroniclers, originally were encrusted with precious stones and gold. The temple consists of a series of buildings overlooking the citadel area. Its semi-circular foundations are placed on solid rock, with a natural curvature of 10.5 meters. The so-called fountain street runs between the Temple of the Sun and the royal palace. Lining the street are a series of 16 liturgical pools, water sources better known in the region as pachas. This sequence of fountains or reservoirs is supplied with water from a spring located one kilometer away, from which the water gently flows down to the different levels. The Incas believed water to be a sort of deity, and for this reason constructed special fountains and reservoirs for its worship. The Temple of the Sun was originally a highly protected complex. Only the priest and the Inca were allowed to use these temples, which otherwise remained closed and guarded. The population attended public ceremonies in open areas or squares in both Machu Picchu and Cusco. The entrance to the Temple of the Sun was a magnificent double wooden door, which had a locking system on the inside consisting of stone rings. Two wooden bars must have been hung from the doorhead and tied into the small stone compartments carved in the inside jams. It is evident that Machu Picchu was a carefully planned construction, meticulously designed to match the natural environment. It is a result of a mixture of unique experiences, where the work of human beings marvelously blends with the work of nature. The uneven topography was cleverly transformed into terraces, with agricultural and urban functions. The site embraces at least two dozen rocky outcrops, which form a big mock-up that mimics the surrounding landscape. Excavations and investigations into the site continue to this day. Between 1980 and 1981, intensive excavations were carried out in various buildings in the area at the entrance to the sanctuary, the results of which were highly rewarding. Between 1987 and 1989, the excavation of the coicos, or grain storehouses, in the east was carried out, and significant discoveries were made in the area of the Temple of the Sun as well. The agricultural sector occupies all of the southeastern part of the citadel. It consists of a series of terraces of different shapes and sizes, built into the hillsides. The terraces are up to four meters in height and were used primarily for growing crops and controlling rain-produced erosion. The terraces were built to grow crops and vary in size according to the slope of the mountain. It has been suggested that the terraces may have had other purposes, like protecting the mountain from seismic activity. If the terraces were indeed used for agricultural purposes, they would have made the city completely self-sufficient. Up a flight of stone steps is a so-called quarry, where a number of amorphous granite boulders lie. It has been hypothesized that they were used as nidaros. The quarries where the stones used in the construction of the sanctuary were extracted were not located far from Machu Picchu. In fact, although distant quarries were frequently used in other Inca settlements, there is no reason to assume that this was the case in Machu Picchu. All the material used could have been taken from the same rocks which constitute the nucleus of massif on which the site is built, which consists of a rocky mass formed by a light-colored compact granitic outcropping. Due to a variety of natural phenomena, some sections display other kinds of rock, such as a quartziferous diorite, which is found between Machu and Huayna Picchu. This kind of rock constitutes the oldest formation and is dark gray in color. Thus, the builders of the city would have had rocks of varying colors and textures available very near the site. A structural characteristic of these rocks is that they fracture in parallelepiped blocks of different sizes and therefore favor their carving in the form of ashlar stones or polyhedrons. When magma was cooled off in order to form granite, there was also a crystallizing process by which those rocks always display natural nerves, faults, or lines on their surfaces. These nerves were located by the Quechua stonemasons, who made holes along them. Those holes were filled up with wooden wedges that were then soaked in water. Thus, by using the expansion or swelling of soaked wood, the rocks could be split. The ecology of this sanctuary is extremely diverse and complex, since it includes 10 wildlife zones, from the low, dry mountain forest at the edge of the valley to the level of the summits of the mountain range. The varied environmental conditions of this area have given origin to a very diverse and wide-ranging flora, from that of the closed forest, through that of the brow of the forest, to the thinly vegetated mountain summits. The Park of Machu Picchu is made up of diverse species of trees, ferns, grasses, mosses, and underbrush plants. Together with the pisanate tree in the alder, a leafy tree common in the height. Orchids occupy a very special place, with more than 50 varieties of this flower found within the confines of the park. Following the path that leads to Machu Picchu to the southeast, one reaches the so-called Intipunku, or Gate of the Sun. Originally a fortress of the Sacred City, it was reached through the still-accessible Intinyan, or Royal Path. The Intipunku is the entrance to Machu Picchu along the Inca Trail, and offers an outstanding view of Machu Picchu and the sacred mountain of Huayna Picchu. The whole sanctuary is seen as though it were a scale model. From this viewpoint, the entire panorama can be appreciated, with the wide horizon formed of ragged mountain peaks, the meanders of the Arumbamba River, and the spectacular ravines. The site, with its stone buildings and steep stone stairways, would have been the official gateway or checkpoint for people arriving and departing the citadel. The presence of altars or resting stones, which may have had a liturgical purpose, is intriguing. The first anthropologist to visit Machu Picchu, Bingham, called the facades, built at intervals, ritual stations. Intipunku is an important archaeological site, with floating rooms and paths, consisting of lozas, or flat slabs of rock, projecting from the sides of the mountains. The Gate of the Sun was the site of meditation year-round. Machu Picchu is, without doubt, one of the most important archaeological wonders of the world, not only because it was built on a mountain ridge that is reached only with great difficulty, but also because it is one of the few urban projects that merges perfectly with its natural surroundings. It is among one of the world's wonders, and in 1983 was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.