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"Machu Picchu is
a late Inca town dramatically sited on the saddle between two
mountains, Machu Picchu (Old Mountain) and Huayna Picchu (Young
Mountain), overlooking the Urubamba River, which winds 3000 ft
below it. Its buildings, all constructed of local stone, use
various types of walling, from coursed ashlar to roughly dressed
rubble, and incorporate characteristic trapezoidal doorways.
Some of the walls have rectangular niches formed on the inner
side. Masonry gables still stand and some buildings have
trapezoidal window openings. The steep slopes of the site are
terraced with masonry retaining walls to hold soil for the
gardens, and the various levels of the town are linked by stone
stairways."
Sir Banister Fletcher. A History of Architecture. p688.
After centuries lost in the jungle
of Cuzco, Machu Picchu was rediscovered in 1911 by the American
archaeologist Hiram Bingham. The Inca trail to Machu Picchu is
rated as one of the best trekking trails in the world offering
stunning landscapes and ancient ruins with diverse ecology.
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