When was Machu Picchu built and what does the name mean?
Machu Picchu is a fifteenth-century Inca city at 2,400 metres in the Andes; Peru's tourism board dates it to around 1450 under the Inca Pachakuteq. The name is Quechua for old mountain; Hiram Bingham brought the site to the world's attention in 1911, and it is now a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The city in the clouds
Machu Picchu stands at 2,400 metres in the Andes, an Inca city built in the fifteenth century; PROMPERÚ, Peru's tourism board, dates it to around 1450 under the Inca Pachakuteq. Houses and temples are stone, set together without mortar so closely that not even a knife fits between them. Green terraces held maize and potatoes. In the morning the clouds come and the city is in the sky.
The name is Quechua: old mountain. The site was brought to the world's attention by Hiram Bingham in 1911, and is today a UNESCO World Heritage site.
- Machu Picchu is an Inca city of the fifteenth century at 2,400 metres in the Andes; its stones sit together without mortar, and its terraces grew maize and potatoes.
- The name is Quechua and means "old mountain".
- Peru's tourism board dates its construction to around 1450 under the Inca Pachakuteq, and its scientific rediscovery to Hiram Bingham on 24 July 1911; it is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Está a dos mil cuatrocientos metros de altura.It stands at two thousand four hundred metres.
Las piedras están juntas sin cemento, y no entra ni un cuchillo.The stones sit together without mortar, and not even a knife fits between them.
Por la mañana hay nubes, y la ciudad está en el cielo.In the morning there are clouds, and the city is in the sky.
El nombre es quechua: "montaña vieja".The name is Quechua: "old mountain".
More about Cusco and Machu Picchu
- How do you get from Lima to Machu Picchu via Cusco?
- Do you need a licensed guide in Cusco and at Machu Picchu?
- What Spanish do you need for the altitude in Cusco?
- Cusco and Machu Picchu