Surrounded by sacred mountains and the Willcamayu river, the great Inca ruler Pachacuti chose this place to build a sacred center. A replica of Cusco, connected with the rest of the empire by mythical lines called Ceques, and an elaborate system of trails. The possible original names were Pijchu or Patallacta, and today it is know as Machu Picchu or "old mountain".
Machu Pijchu is one of the ancient marvels of the world.
The Inca ordered its construction around 1450, and it was used by Pachacuti and his royal Panaca as a residence. Modern research suggests that it was the site where Juan de Betanzos saw the mummy of the Inca that “transformed the world”. Pachacuti's body is now in Patallacta, and judging by the length of his legs, it seems that he was a tall man,who may have died at the age of a hundred and twenty. The site was desecrated by the extirpation of idolatries during the war between the kingdom of Vilcabamba and the conquering Spaniards from 1536 to 1572.
In 1911, an American professor and explorer, Hiram Bingham, led an expedition into the Urubamba valley. Pablo Alvarez guided him to Machu Picchu, while he was tending the fields of Melchor Artega. Bingham made the world aware of this magnificent site.
