Machu Picchu

 

Is a pre-Columbian 15th-century Inca site located 2,430m above sea level. It is situated on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru. Most archaeologists believe that Machu Picchu was built as an estate for the Inca emperor Pachacuti (1438–1472). Often referred to as the "Lost City of the Incas", it is perhaps the most familiar icon of the Inca World. The Incas started building the "estate" around AD 1400, but abandoned it a century later at the time of the Spanish Conquest. Machu Picchu was declared a Peruvian Historical Sanctuary in 1981 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983.In 2007, it was voted one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.