Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant documents that can help answer the question.
Query: Who built the city of Machu Picchu?
Machu Picchu was built around 1450–1460.[21] Its construction appears to date to the period of the two great Inca rulers, Pachacutec Inca Yupanqui (1438–1471) and Túpac Inca Yupanqui (1472–1493).[22][23]:xxxvi There is a consensus among archaeologists that Pachacutec ordered the construction of the royal estate for himself, most likely after his successful military campaign. Though Machu Picchu is considered to be a "royal" estate, surprisingly, the estate would not have been passed down in the line of succession. It was only used for approximately 80 years before being abandoned seemingly due to destruction of the Spanish Conquests in other parts of the Inca Empire.[21] It is possible that most of its inhabitants died from smallpox introduced by travellers before the Spanish conquistadors arrived in the area.[24]
Machu Picchu, the most famous and well preserved of Incan archeological sites, contains a complex aqueduct system. Construction of Machu Picchu began as an estate for nobility around the mid-1400s under Emperor Pachacuti. Incan engineers in Machu Picchu were able to use an ingenious stone collection system to increase the yield of the perennial spring that normally only had substantial flows as mountain snow melted in the warmer months. Without this innovation, the population of Machu Picchu would have been unsustainable. While the area received enough rainfall for agricultural production, there were few freshwater sources for domestic use. Water had to travel 749 m (about half of a mile) to reach the city center. The Inca exhibited a large degree of technological prowess in their careful gradation of the aqueducts. By cutting the canals out of one stone, lining canals with rock, and filling joints with clay, the Inca were able to reduce water loss due to seepage.
In January 2010, heavy rain caused flooding that buried or washed away roads and railways to Machu Picchu, trapping more than 2,000 locals and more than 2,000 tourists, later airlifted out to safety. Machu Picchu was temporarily closed,[73] reopening on 1 April 2010.[74]
The Inca road system included a route to the Machu Picchu region. The people of Machu Picchu were connected to long-distance trade, as shown by non-local artifacts found at the site. For example, Bingham found unmodified obsidian nodules at the entrance gateway. In the 1970s, Burger and Asaro determined that these obsidian samples were from the Titicaca or Chivay obsidian source, and that the samples from Machu Picchu showed long-distance transport of this obsidian type in pre-Hispanic Peru.[59]
The route covers a distance of approximately a mile, eventually rising above the ruins of Machu Picchu
The ruins themselves serve as a final stop for hikers completing an optional five-day hike from a point far back from Aguas Calientes, the city at the base of Machu Picchu. This hike has been recommended by many tour guides as giving a great view of the city of Machu Picchu.
From Wiñay Wayna the trail undulates along below the crest of the east slope of the mountain named Machu Picchu. The steep stairs leading to Inti Punku ("sun gate") are reached after approximately 3 km. Reaching the crest of this ridge reveals the grandeur of the ruins of Machu Picchu, which lie below. A short downhill walk is the final section of the trail.
Intihuatana (possibly from in the Quechua spelling "Inti Watana" or "Intiwatana") at the archaeological site of Machu Picchu (Machu Pikchu) is a notable ritual stone associated with the astronomic clock or calendar of the Inca in South America. Machu Picchu was thought to have been built c. 1450 by the Sapa Inca Pachacuti as a country estate, although it is equally likely that the Inca discovered much older ruins (the inti watana, the temple of the sun, and the temple of the condor) and opted to build this majestic estate on older foundations. . In the late 16th century, the Viceroy Francisco de Toledo and the clergy destroyed those "Intihuatana" which they could find. They did so as they believed that the Incas' religion was a blasphemy and the religious significance of the "Intihuatana" could be a political liability. The "Intihuatana" of Machu Picchu was found intact by Bingham in 1911, indicating that the Spanish conquerors had not found it.
In 1911 American historian and explorer Hiram Bingham travelled the region looking for the old Inca capital and was led to Machu Picchu by a villager, Melchor Arteaga. Bingham found the name Agustín Lizárraga and the date 1902 written in charcoal on one of the walls. Though Bingham was not the first to visit the ruins, he was considered the scientific discoverer who brought Machu Picchu to international attention. Bingham organized another expedition in 1912 to undertake major clearing and excavation.[23]:xxx-xxxi
Machu Picchu was declared a Peruvian Historic Sanctuary in 1981 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983.[12] In 2007, Machu Picchu was voted one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in a worldwide Internet poll.[17]
The Inca Trail to Machu Picchu (also known as "Camino Inca" or "Camino Inka") is a hiking trail in Peru that terminates at Machu Picchu. It consists of three overlapping trails: "Mollepata", "Classic", and "One Day". "Mollepata" is the longest of the three routes with the highest mountain pass and intersects with the Classic route before crossing Warmiwañusqa ("dead woman"). Located in the Andes mountain range, the trail passes through several types of Andean environments including cloud forest and alpine tundra. Settlements, tunnels, and many Incan ruins are located along the trail before ending the terminus at the Sun Gate on Machu Picchu mountain. The two longer routes require an ascent to beyond above sea level, which can result in altitude sickness.
Awamaki is located in the town of Ollantaytambo, which is between the Inca Capital city of Cusco and Machu Picchu, a U.N. World Heritage site. Ollantaytambo is the departure point to Machu Picchu, which welcomes nearly 500,000 tourists annually. Practically every one of these tourists must pass through Ollantaytambo on their way to Machu Picchu. Ollantaytambo also has its own ruins which tourists navigate daily. The tourism industry has brought prosperity and modern conveniences to Ollantaytambo.
Much of the farming done at Machu Picchu was done on the hundreds of man-made terraces there. These terraces were a work of considerable engineering, built to ensure good drainage and soil fertility while also protecting the mountain itself from erosion and landslides. However, the terraces were not perfect, as studies of the land show that there were landslides that happened during the construction of Machu Picchu. It can still be seen where the terraces were shifted by landslides and then stabilized by the Inca as they continued to build around the area.[29]
The opening sequence of the film Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972) was shot in the Machu Picchu area and on the stone stairway of Huayna Picchu.[83]
The Machu Picchu Scientific Base is a Peruvian polar scientific research facility in Antarctica, established to conduct Antarctic research on geology, climatology and biology. More specifically, its purpose is to study the continent's geological past, potential sea resources, wind strengths, air pollution, and the animal adaptation in a freezing environment. The base is named after the World Heritage site Machu Picchu.
The city sits in a saddle between the two mountains Machu Picchu and Huayna Picchu,[30] with a commanding view down two valleys and a nearly impassable mountain at its back. It has a water supply from springs that cannot be blocked easily. The hillsides leading to it were terraced, to provide more farmland to grow crops, and to steepen the slopes that invaders would have to ascend. The terraces reduced soil erosion and protected against landslides.[46] Two high-altitude routes from Machu Picchu cross the mountains back to Cusco, one through the Sun Gate, and the other across the Inca bridge. Both could be blocked easily, should invaders approach along them.
According to local guides, the top of the mountain was the residence for the high priest and the local virgins. Every morning before sunrise, the high priest with a small group would walk to Machu Picchu to signal the coming of the new day. The Temple of the Moon, one of the three major temples in the Machu Picchu area, is nestled on the side of the mountain and is situated at an elevation lower than Machu Picchu. Adjacent to the Temple of the Moon is the Great Cavern, another sacred temple with fine masonry. The other major local temples in Machu Picchu are the Temple of the Condor, Temple of Three Windows, Principal Temple, "Unfinished Temple", and the Temple of the Sun, also called the Torreon.
During the 1980s a large rock from Machu Picchu's central plaza was moved to a different location to create a helicopter landing zone. In the 1990s, the government prohibited helicopter landings. In 2006, a Cusco-based company, Helicusco, sought approval for tourist flights over Machu Picchu. The resulting license was soon rescinded.[66]
Machu Picchu is a pre-Columbian Inca site situated on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru. Often referred to as the "Lost City of the Incas", it is perhaps the most familiar icon of the Inca World. Machu Picchu was built around 1450, at the height of the Inca Empire. It was abandoned just over 100 years later, in 1572, as a belated result of the Spanish Conquest. It is possible that most of its inhabitants died from smallpox introduced by travelers before the Spanish conquistadors arrived in the area. In 1911, Melchor Arteaga led the explorer Hiram Bingham to Machu Picchu, which had been largely forgotten by everybody except the small number of people living in the immediate valley.
Inti Punku or Intipunku (Quechua "inti" sun, "punku" door, "sun gate", Hispanicized spellings "Intipunco, Intipuncu, Inti Puncu") is an archaeological site in the Cusco Region of Peru that was once a fortress of the sacred city, Machu Picchu. It is now also the name of the final section of the Incan Trail between the Sun Gate complex and the city of Machu Picchu. It was believed that the steps were a control gate for those who enter and exited the Sanctuary.
Santa Teresa, Peru is situated 6.5 km northwest of Machu Picchu and is at the axis of several important routes leading to this archeological centre, including alternative paths ways to the ruins (previously the railway was the only means of reaching Machu Picchu). In 1998, a landslide completely buried the town and destroyed the bridge that connected it to Machu Picchu and Cusco, however the bridge has subsequently been rebuilt. 
Machu Picchu was built in the classical Inca style, with polished dry-stone walls. Its three primary structures are the Intihuatana, the Temple of the Sun, and the Room of the Three Windows. Most of the outlying buildings have been reconstructed in order to give tourists a better idea of how they originally appeared.[15] By 1976, thirty percent of Machu Picchu had been restored[15] and restoration continues.[16]
Machu-Picchu may refer to:
Machu Picchu is situated above a bow of the Urubamba River, which surrounds the site on three sides, where cliffs drop vertically for 450 metres (1,480ft) to the river at their base. The area is subject to morning mists rising from the river.[30] The location of the city was a military secret, and its deep precipices and steep mountains provided natural defenses. The Inca Bridge, an Inca grass rope bridge, across the Urubamba River in the Pongo de Mainique, provided a secret entrance for the Inca army. Another Inca bridge was built to the west of Machu Picchu, the tree-trunk bridge, at a location where a gap occurs in the cliff that measures 6 metres (20ft).
Most archaeologists believe that Machu Picchu was constructed as an estate for the Inca emperor Pachacuti (1438–1472). Often mistakenly referred to as the "Lost City of the Incas" (a title more accurately applied to Vilcabamba), it is the most familiar icon of Inca civilization. The Incas built the estate around 1450 but abandoned it a century later at the time of the Spanish Conquest. Although known locally, it was not known to the Spanish during the colonial period and remained unknown to the outside world until American historian Hiram Bingham brought it to international attention in 1911.
It is one of the most important archeological constructions around the Machu Picchu site. Inti Punku was once the main entrance to Machu Picchu, in particular it was the primary approach from the then capitol city of Cusco to the southeast. The gate likely would have been protected by Incan military. Inti Punku is dedicated to the cult of the Inti, the Sun god. Because of its location on a ridge southeast of Machu Picchu, the rising sun would pass through the Sun Gate each year on the summer solstice. It is located 2745 meters above the sea level. The altitude of the climb to Inti Punku from Machu Picchu is 290 metres. It is a wide archaeological site with windows and gates that are held up by terraces. This is the first place that tourists can see the whole sanctuary. Tourists are able to see the sun rise over the whole mountains by Machu Picchu. The location of the gate was given to watch the people passing.