Interesting facts about Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu is a 15th-century Inca citadel, located in southern Peru, on a 2,430-metre mountain ridge. It is located in the Machupicchu District within Urubamba Province above the Sacred Valley, which is 80 kilometres northwest of Cuzco.

Most archaeologists believe that Machu Picchu was constructed as an estate for the Inca emperor Pachacuti (1438–1472). The Incas built the estate around 1450 but abandoned it a century later at the time of the Spanish conquest.

Although known locally, it remained unknown to the outside world until American historian Hiram Bingham brought it to international attention in 1911.