Machu Picchu is a 15th-century Inca citadel located in the Eastern Cordillera of southern Peru.
It is located 80 kilometers northwest of Cusco, in the Machupicchu District within the Sacred Valley in Urubamba Province.
In 1981, Machu Picchu was declared a Peruvian Historic Sanctuary, and in 1983, it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
In 2007, an international internet poll voted Machu Picchu as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.
In Quechua, Machu means "old" or "old person", while pikchu mean either "portion of coca being crunched" or "pyramid; pointed, multi-sided solid; cone".
The Lost City of the Incas is sometimes referred to as Machu Picchu. The Incan Empire is symbolized by it.
Machu Picchu was viewed as a sacred place by the Incas. They used it as a place of worship, it is believed.
People who did not have wheels or tools fashioned of iron built it out of stone on a high mountain.