From Archiplanet

	Machu Picchu
Designer	unknown
Location	near Cuzco, Peru
Date	1460 to 1500
Building Type	town
Climate	temperate
Context	rural mountains
Architectural Style	Inca, Pre-Columbian
Street Address
Notes	Inca fortress city high above the gorge of the Urubamba River (alt. 2000m)
At Great Buildings	http://www.GreatBuildings.com/buildings/Machu_Picchu.html

Contents 1 Images 2 Discussion 3 Maps 4 References 5 External Links

[edit] Images

[edit] Discussion

UNESCO World Heritage Sites
Name	Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu
UNESCO State Party	Peru
Region	Latin America and Caribbean
Type	Mixed
Criteria	i, iii, vii, ix
UNESCO Site ID	274
Year of Listing	1983

Commentary

"Machu Picchu is a late Inca town dramatically sited on the saddle between two mountains, overlooking the Urubamba River, which winds 900 m (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.

"In the 15th century, the Incan Emperor Pachacútec built a city in the clouds on the mountain known as Machu Picchu ("old mountain"). This extraordinary settlement lies halfway up the Andes Plateau, deep in the Amazon jungle and above the Urubamba River. It was probably abandoned by the Incas because of a smallpox outbreak and, after the Spanish defeated the Incan Empire, the city remained 'lost' for over three centuries. It was rediscovered by Hiram Bingham in 1911." — http://www.new7wonders.com/index.php?id=373

Machu Picchu

See a related page at Wikipedia for additional information.

[edit] Maps

[edit] References

Francis D. K. Ching. Architecture: Form, Space, and Order. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1979. ISBN 0-442-21535-5. LC 79-18045. NA2760.C46. aerial perspective drawing, p36.— A nice graphic introduction to architectural ideas. Updated 1996 edition available at Amazon.com

Bodo Cichy. Architecture of the Ancient Civilizations in Color. New York: The Viking Press, 1966. aerial perspective of ruins, plate 106, p412. perspective of the temple, plate 108, p415.

Sir Banister Fletcher. A History of Architecture. Boston: Butterworths, 1987. ISBN 0-408-01587-X. NA200.F63 1987. discussion, p688.— The classic text of architectural history. Expanded 1996 edition available at Amazon.com

Ann Kendall. Aspects of Inca Architecture Part ii. Oxford: B.A.R., 1985. ISBN 0-86054-317-X. F3429.3.A65K46 1985. plan drawings of the temple of the moon, p398.

John Julius Norwich, ed. Great Architecture of the World. London: Mitchell Beazley Publishers, 1975. aerial photo, p36.Reprint edition: Da Capo Press, April 1991. ISBN 0-3068-0436-0. — An accessible, inspiring and informative overview of world architecture, with lots of full-color cutaway drawings, and clear explanations. Available at Amazon.com

Dennis Sharp, ed. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Architects and Architecture. New York: Whitney Library of Design, an imprint of Watson-Guptil Publications, 1991. ISBN 0-8230-2539-X. in-the-midst photo, p194.

Elizabeth Skidmore Sasser. Architecture of Ancient Peru. Lubbock, Texas: Internation Center for Arid and Semi-Arid Land Studies, Texas Technical College, 1969. F3429.3.A65S2. perspective drawing of a house, p69. perspective drawing of windows, p70.

[edit] External Links

Finalist in the New Seven Wonders international architectural landmarks contest. Machu Picchu Travel Forum