The Guardhouse at Machu Picchu
There is an image of Machu Picchu that appears in almost every travel guide, on tourism agency posters, and in most of the photographs visitors share after being there: the citadel seen from above, with the agricultural terraces in the foreground, the urban sector behind them, and Huayna Picchu rising over the horizon. That image […]
Inca Bridge of Machu Picchu: Engineering on the Edge of the Abyss
On the western slope of Machu Picchu, where the mountain rock drops vertically toward the Urubamba Canyon, there is a path carved directly into the cliff face. In some sections, the trail is barely a meter wide, runs more than 50 meters above the void, and reaches a point where the natural rock is interrupted […]
Temple of the Condor in Machu Picchu
At the southeastern end of the urban sector of Machu Picchu, at the end of one of the less traveled sections of the standard route, there is a space that requires a few seconds of visual adjustment before the eye understands what it is seeing. The ground has an unusual shape. The rocks on the […]
The Sacred Rock of Machu Picchu: The Monolith that Mirrors the Mountain
At the northern end of the Machu Picchu citadel, at the point where the urban sector ends and the terrain begins to rise toward the base of Huayna Picchu, there is a rock that stops visitors before they can fully explain why. It has no inscriptions, no elaborate carvings, and it is not integrated into […]
Sun Gate at Machu Picchu: Inti Punku and the Entrance to the Citadel
There is a structure in Machu Picchu that most visitors never get to see up close. It is located about a 45-minute walk from the citadel, on the ridge of the mountain that overlooks the site from the southeast, and from there you get one of the widest and least crowded views of the entire […]
Urban Sector of Machu Picchu
After crossing the Main Plaza toward the north, the character of the site changes noticeably. The agricultural terraces are left behind, and the route enters a network of enclosures, courtyards, stairways, and passageways that make up the urban sector of Machu Picchu. It is the densest part of the site in architectural terms, the one […]
Agricultural Sector of Machu Picchu
The most widely reproduced image of Machu Picchu the one that appears in travel guides, documentaries, and in the photographs of most visitors always includes the terraces. They are the first element seen upon arriving at the site, descending down the southern slope in parallel bands, and they have such a dominant visual presence that […]
Main Plaza (Sacred Plaza) of the Machu Picchu Citadel
At the exact center of the Machu Picchu citadel there is a space that breaks with the architectural density of the rest of the site: an open esplanade, with no buildings inside it, surrounded by the most important complexes of the archaeological site. It is the Main Plaza of Machu Picchu also called the Central […]
Temple of the Sun in Machu Picchu
Within the archaeological complex of Machu Picchu there is a structure that draws attention from the very first moment because of its shape and the quality of its construction: the Temple of the Sun. Unlike other buildings at the site, this enclosure has curved walls, a feature that is uncommon in Inca architecture, and it […]
Temple of the Three Windows in Machu Picchu: The Structure That Intrigued Bingham
When Hiram Bingham arrived at Machu Picchu in July 1911, accompanied by the local farmer Melchor Arteaga and a boy who showed him the way, the first thing he described enthusiastically in his field notes was not the panorama of the terraces or the silhouette of Huayna Picchu. It was this structure: a stone wall […]