Мачу-Пикчу (в переводе с языка кечуа — «великая вершина») — город древней Америки, находящийся на территории современного Перу. Так же Мачу-Пикчу нередко называют «город в небесах» или «город из облаков». Порой называют «утерянным городом инков». Этот город был воздвигнут как священный горный приют великим правителем инков Пачакутеком за столетие до завоевания его империи, то есть около в 1440 г., и функционировал до 1532 г., когда испанцы вторглись на территорию империи инков. В 1532 г. все его жители таинственно пропали.
(Quechua: Machu Pikchu, "Old Peak") is a pre-Columbian Inca site located 2,430 metres (8,000 ft) above sea level. It is situated on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru, which is 80 kilometres (50 mi) northwest of Cuzco and through which the Urubamba River flows. Often referred to as "The Lost City of the Incas", Machu Picchu is one of the most familiar symbols of the Inca Empire. The Incas started building it around AD 1430 but was abandoned as an official site for the Inca rulers a hundred years later at the time of the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire. Although known locally, it was largely unknown to the outside world before being brought to international attention in 1911 by Hiram Bingham, an American historian. Since then, Machu Picchu has become an important tourist attraction. Machu Picchu was declared a Peruvian Historical Sanctuary in 1981 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983. Since it was not plundered by the Spanish when they conquered the Incas, it is especially important as a cultural site and is considered a sacred place. Machu Picchu was built in the classical Inca style, with polished dry-stone walls. Its primary buildings are the Intihuatana, the Temple of the Sun, and the Room of the Three Windows. These are located in what is known by archaeologists as the Sacred District of Machu Picchu. In September 2007, Peru and Yale University reached an agreement regarding the return of artifacts which Hiram Bingham had removed from Machu Picchu in the early twentieth century. Machu Picchu was constructed around 1462, at the height of the Inca Empire. It was abandoned less than 100 years later. It is likely that most of its inhabitants were wiped out by smallpox before the Spanish conquistadores arrived in the area, and there is no record of their having known of the remote city. Hiram Bingham hypothesized that the citadel was the traditional birthplace of the Inca of the "Virgins of the Suns". Another theory maintains that Machu Picchu was an Inca "llacta", a settlement built to control the economy of these conquered regions. Yet another asserts that it may have been built as a prison for a select few who had committed heinous crimes against Inca society. Research conducted by scholars, such as John Rowe and Richard Burger, has convinced most archaeologists that Machu Picchu was an estate of the Inca emperor, Pachacuti. In addition, Johan Reinhard presented evidence that the site was selected because of its position relative to sacred landscape features such as its mountains, which are purported to be in alignment with key astronomical events that would have been important to the Incas.
Историки считают многие сооружения в Перу храмами и культовыми постройками. Однако для самих строителей они имели совсем иное назначение: от обычных домов до научных или военных станций. И даже знаменитый Саксайуаман оказывается вовсе не крепостью, а древним полигоном, где проводились мощные взрывы.
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