Machu Picchu is Peru’s most visited place, but few visits explain properly what it was, who built it and why it lay forgotten for centuries. This guide sums up what we know, what recent research has changed and the questions that remain open. It is the context that gives meaning to your three hours inside the citadel.
In short: Machu Picchu was an Inca royal estate, attributed to Pachacutec and occupied from around 1420 until the Spanish arrived in the 1530s. It was never entirely lost to local people: Hiram Bingham made it known to the world in 1911.
What Machu Picchu was
The most widely accepted interpretation is that it was a royal Inca estate: a residence for the elite with temples, palaces, housing for service staff and farming terraces, built in a place of great symbolic value, between sacred mountains and above the Urubamba river. It was neither a city in the modern sense nor a fortress. It is attributed to the Inca Pachacuti, the ruler who turned Cusco into the capital of an empire.
When it was built
For decades it was dated to around 1450, based on colonial chronicles. In 2021, a radiocarbon study of human remains from the site suggested it was already occupied by around 1420, some twenty years earlier. Either way, its use was brief: less than a century before the Spanish arrived in the 1530s.
How it was built
The citadel is divided into an agricultural sector, with terraces that hold up the slope and prevent erosion, and an urban sector, with squares, temples and neighbourhoods. The quality of the stonework changes with the use: religious and royal buildings, such as the Temple of the Sun or the Temple of the Three Windows, have finely cut blocks that fit without mortar; homes and storehouses use rougher stone. Beneath it all is a drainage system that has protected the citadel from the rain for more than five centuries.
The same technique can be seen in Cusco, at Qorikancha, and in the Sacred Valley, at Ollantaytambo. Seeing them first helps you understand Machu Picchu.
The name
In Quechua, Machu Picchu means “old mountain” and Huayna Picchu “young mountain”. But it is not clear that this was the original name. In 2021, two historians published a study of colonial documents suggesting the site was known as Huayna Picchu, or simply Picchu, and that the current name was fixed by early 20th-century maps.
The 1911 “discovery”
Machu Picchu was never entirely lost to local people. When the American explorer Hiram Bingham arrived in July 1911, he was guided by a local farmer, Melchor Arteaga, and found peasant families farming the terraces. What Bingham did was make the site known to the world, through photographs published by National Geographic. His expeditions took thousands of objects to Yale University, which Peru claimed for decades and which began to return in 2011. Today they are displayed in Cusco, at the Machu Picchu Museum in the Casa Concha.
From forgotten ruin to world heritage
UNESCO listed the Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu as a World Heritage Site in 1983, for its cultural and natural value together. In 2007 it was voted one of the new seven wonders of the world. Since then the challenge has been protecting it: hence the daily limits, timed tickets and fixed-route circuits, which we explain in the Machu Picchu circuits.
Machu Picchu in a timeline
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| 15th century, c. 1420–1450 | Construction and first occupation under Pachacutec |
| 1530s | The Spanish arrive; the site falls out of use |
| 1911 | Hiram Bingham arrives, guided by Melchor Arteaga, and makes it known |
| 1983 | UNESCO inscribes it as a World Heritage Site, both cultural and natural |
| 2007 | Chosen as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World |
| 2011 | The pieces taken to Yale University begin to return to Cusco |
| 2024 | Visits move to three fixed-route circuits |
The questions that remain open
- Why was it abandoned? It is believed that the Spanish conquest and the wars and epidemics that came with it broke the system that sustained it, but no account explains it.
- Why did the Spanish not find it? It does not appear in the chronicles as a conquered or looted place, although some colonial documents mention land in the area.
- How many people lived there? Estimates speak of a few hundred people, more when the court was present.
- What role did astronomy play? Buildings such as the Temple of the Sun are aligned with the solstices, but the extent of their ceremonial use is still being studied.
Frequently asked questions
Who built Machu Picchu?
The Incas, under the rule of Pachacuti, in the 15th century. It was a royal estate with religious functions.
How old is Machu Picchu?
A little under six centuries. It was built and occupied in the 15th century, probably from around 1420.
What does Machu Picchu mean?
“Old mountain” in Quechua. Huayna Picchu means “young mountain”.
Where can you see the objects Bingham took?
At the Machu Picchu Museum in the Casa Concha, in central Cusco.
Was Machu Picchu lost?
Not entirely. When Bingham arrived in 1911 there were farming families working the terraces; what he did was make it known to the world.
Why is it a World Heritage Site?
UNESCO inscribed it in 1983 for its cultural and natural value together: the Inca citadel and the mountains and forest around it.
Visit it with context
- Private Machu Picchu Full Day, with an official guide.
- Complete Machu Picchu guide and tips for your visit.
- Things to do in Cusco, to see Inca architecture before you go.
