Machu Picchu holds since its discovery, enigmas, about the legitimacy of its construction, its real name, including its discovery, some of them here, that over one hundred years of its discovery, still holds this wonderful Inca city.

Who discovered it?

• Officially Hiram Bingham, the July 24, 1911, who arrived following comments, you must have heard in Cusco about a mysterious city. Meanwhile, there were many people who already knew the location of the Inca City. Families like the Alvarez and Recharte, and reportedly, possibly a child of Recharte’s family, was the one who gave Bingham, the location of their discovery; this, after asking auspices of the Peruvian government, Yale University and the National Geographic Society, unveiled to the world, the city of Machu Picchu, 1913. During excursions of Bingham, 40,000 pieces were taken from Machu Picchu and were taken to the US for research, which were returned to the Peruvian government in 2011, however, they have not been returned in its entirety, it is argued that such parts do not belong to Peru, but to humanity.
• Other studies reveal that it was the German businessman Augusto Berns, who in 1867 bought land near Machu Picchu, to provide wood for the railway, circumstance in which he would have discovered the city, investigating it for three years, without making it known, after leaving the country in 1,880 returned to found, the Anonymous company operating the Temples of the Inca, now supported by the Peruvian government, which allowed Berns, extract, remove and export, priceless pieces, business for which the Peru would receive 10%. Relics that were scattered around the world between politicians and influential and wealthy people of the time, the worst of it is that, never able to determine how many parts, leaving the country, or hands that ended up; which it would have caused the loss of such parts.
• In 1902 a discovery was raised, the cusquenian farmer Agustin Lizarraga, would come to Machu Picchu the July 14, 1902, this did not hide his finding, and was always willing to guide anyone who would know the holy city, the registration of your name is in the temple of the three windows, a fact recorded by Hiram Bingham himself. Lizarraga drowned in the Vilcanota, in 1912 without being able to claim their discovery.

What would be your name?

Call from his discovery like Machu Picchu, which means Old Mountain (Machu which means old and Picchu meaning mountain), but some studies suggest that this would not be the name that Machu Picchu was known at the time of the Incas; by Mari Carmen Martin Rubio, Spanish historian; based on a chronicle of Juan de Betanzos (located in the Library Bartolomé March of Palma de Mallorca). According to these accounts, which speaks about the Spanish conquest seen from the point of view of the Incas, the real name of Machu Picchu would Patallaqta, Quechua word meaning City Step or City of the Stairs, name that is more in line with the description of the Inca city and the terraces should be constructed to win space to the mountain.

Many historians support this hypothesis as in the case of the Peruvian Federico Kaufmann Doig, who believes that Patallaqta be the original name of this wonder of the world.

Why was it built?

• The historian Luis Guillermo Lumbreras believed to have been built as a mausoleum for the great Inca Pachacutec, argues that there was a main crypt that held the mummy, then which was taken by the Spanish to Lima.
• But anthropologist Federico Kauffmann says, the Incas had no palaces, but management centers. Machu Picchu was an administration center, built to expand their cultivation areas to enrich the feed and provide livelihoods for the inhabitants, also a place of worship and ceremonies in order to obtain good harvests and appease inclement weather, such as the phenomenon of El Niño.
• The Head of the Archaeological Park of Machu Picchu, Fernando Astete, contends that its purpose was to act as a link between the high Andes and the jungle of the Empire. Also as religious, political and administrative center (which today it would be a provincial capital); to reach Machu Picchu there are six to eight paths that confirm the claim that act as a link.
• Archaeologist and anthropologist Julinho Zapata, along with the historian Mariana Mould; believe that Machu Picchu was more related to religion, being a place of worship and spiritual retreat, a sacred space where religious ceremonies took place, a religious shrine which we have evidence in the 32 huacas that comprise the complex; surrounded by tutelary Apus and Pacarina (snowy of the Salkantay chain).

How are they built?

Visitors to the Sanctuary of Machu Picchu can imagine how difficult it must have been its construction. Amidst hills and surrounded by a mighty river such as the Urubamba River, builders should have used all their ingenuity to lift or drag, gigantic stone blocks, which seems unrealistic for a people who did not have the wheel between their discoveries, and that if they had discovered, it would not have served so much because of the rugged geography, but the amazing thing is the work done with them, a carved and armed with perfect ensemble, temples, walls, as the calls Three Windows, which makes the construction of Machu Picchu, a real mystery, since the technique used, even today it is impossible to imitate. It is said that local stone was used, ie, that the area of Machu Picchu was a quarry, but how those huge stones were moved to the work area?, the most accepted hypothesis said it was combination of ropes and work of men and beasts of burden like flames. What do you think?

Can it be said that the Incas knew advanced construction techniques? The leveling, measuring angles and distances (dimensions of the foot, hand and armful) this great work must have meant a lot of effort and time but they found it very effective. Possibly the perfectly fit a block of stone on another, is made by an operation of wear, perhaps you are putting sand in the voids between the rocks to determine what specific point should be sanded and achieve that perfect engagement.

How did they achieve the perfect union? How these stones got gathered, so that resist the time? What architectural knowledge they had, to build temples like the Three Windows or Sun? Questions without a clear answer, in which researchers, in addition to the general public, can agree.

How is it that a man can lift stone blocks of this magnitude, carve and assemble them with such perfection?. This suggests that the Incas had a secret knowledge, or even more magical.

Other theories suggest that Machu Picchu was done using supernatural technology. Florida, United States, Edward Leedskalnin, built a castle with stone blocks, some of more than 9 tons superimposed on one another, with one hand and using a strange machine (shaped like a small black box) which he said had the power to make the stones do not weigh, making them manipulable. This led many to say that secret, could easily have been applied in magnificent buildings like the pyramids of Egypt, and of course, Machu Picchu.

These are some mysteries that encloses the Inca City, wonder of the world; and those who know Machu Picchu, we can say that this city is more than important, it is the demonstration of what an Inca civilization was able to create architectural wonders, in perfect harmony with nature.

By Ticket Machu Picchu – Last Update, 04-11-2015