page_title: Lake Titicaca
section_title: Isla de la Luna
hierarchical_section_title: Lake Titicaca / Islands / Isla de la Luna
caption_attribution_description: English: Isla de la Luna and Cordillera Real
context_page_description: Lake Titicaca is a large, deep, freshwater lake in the Andes on the border of Bolivia and Peru, often called the "highest navigable lake" in the world. By volume of water and by surface area, it is the largest lake in South America.
  Lake Titicaca has a surface elevation of 3,812 m. The "highest navigable lake" claim is generally considered to refer to commercial craft. Numerous smaller bodies of water around the world are at higher elevations. For many years, the largest vessel afloat on the lake was the 2,200-ton, 79-metre SS Ollanta. Today, the largest vessel is most likely the similarly sized train barge/float Manco Capac, operated by PeruRail.
  Other cultures lived on Lake Titicaca prior to the arrival of the Incas. In 2000, a team of international archaeologists and divers found the ruins of an underwater temple, thought to be between 1,000 and 1,500 years old, most likely built by the Tiwanaku people. The ruins have been measured to be 200 by 50 m. The temple was accompanied by a village, some roads, terraces for farming and a retaining wall that ran for 800 meters.
context_section_description: Isla de la Luna is situated east from the bigger Isla del Sol. Both islands belong to the La Paz Department of Bolivia. According to legends that refer to Inca mythology Isla de la Luna (Spanish for "island of the moon") is where Viracocha commanded the rising of the moon. Ruins of a supposed Inca nunnery (Mamakuna) occupy the oriental shore.
  Archaeological excavations indicate that the Tiwanaku peoples (around 650–1000 AD) built a major temple on the Island of the Moon. Pottery vessels of local dignitaries dating from this period  have been excavated on islands in Lake Titicaca. Two of them were found in the 19th century and are now in the British Museum in London. The structures seen on the island today were built by the Inca (circa 1450–1532) directly over the earlier Tiwanaku ones.
caption: Isla de la Luna and Cordillera Real
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