page_title: Machu Picchu
section_title: Intihuatana stone
hierarchical_section_title: Machu Picchu / Site / Intihuatana stone
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Die "Augen" der Pachamama im Observatorium von Machu Picchu English: The "eyes" of Pachamama in the observatory of Machu Picchu
context_page_description: Machu Picchu is a 15th-century Inca citadel, located in the Eastern Cordillera of southern Peru, on a 2,430-metre mountain ridge. It is located in the Cusco Region, Urubamba Province, Machupicchu District, above the Sacred Valley, which is 80 kilometres northwest of Cuzco. The Urubamba River flows past it, cutting through the Cordillera and creating a canyon with a tropical mountain climate.
  For most speakers of English or Spanish, the first 'c' in Picchu is silent. In English, the name is pronounced or,
  in Spanish as or,
  and in Quechua as.
  Most archaeologists believe that Machu Picchu was constructed as an estate for the Inca emperor Pachacuti. Often mistakenly referred to as the "Lost City of the Incas", it is the most familiar icon of Inca civilization. The Incas built the estate around 1450 but abandoned it a century later at the time of the Spanish conquest. Although known locally, it was not known to the Spanish during the colonial period and remained unknown to the outside world until American historian Hiram Bingham brought it to international attention in 1911.
  Machu Picchu was built in the classical Inca style, with polished dry-stone walls.
context_section_description: The Intihuatana stone is one of many ritual stones in South America. These stones are arranged to point directly at the sun during the winter solstice. The name of the stone (perhaps coined by Bingham) derives from Quechua language: inti means "sun", and wata-, "to tie, hitch (up)". The suffix -na derives nouns for tools or places. Hence Intihuatana is literally an instrument or place to "tie up the sun", often expressed in English as "The Hitching Post of the Sun". The Inca believed the stone held the sun in its place along its annual path in the sky. The stone is situated at 13°9'48" S. At midday on 11 November and 30 January, the sun stands almost exactly above the pillar, casting no shadow. On 21 June, the stone casts the longest shadow on its southern side, and on 21 December a much shorter shadow on its northern side.
caption: The sculpture carved from the rock bottom of the sun temple is interpreted as "Water mirrors for observing the sky".[52]
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