HERITAGE RECORD · 274

Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu

马丘比丘古神庙

The official record, selection criteria and sourced cultural context.

World Heritage record

Machu Picchu stands 2,430 m above sea-level, in the middle of a tropical mountain forest, in an extraordinarily beautiful setting. It was probably the most amazing urban creation of the Inca Empire at its height; its giant walls, terraces and ramps seem as if they have been cut naturally in the continuous rock escarpments. The natural setting, on the eastern slopes of the Andes, encompasses the upper Amazon basin with its rich diversity of flora and fauna.

Open the official UNESCO record ↗

Wikidata reference

QIDQ3331815 ↗

Inception1981

Area38160.87 ha

Administrative areaQ205057

WikipediaHistoric Sanctuary of Machu Picchu ↗

Imported locally from Wikidata; it does not replace the UNESCO record or editorial copy.

Selection criteria

This property was inscribed under the following World Heritage Convention criteria.

(i)A masterpiece of human creative genius.

(iii)A unique or exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or civilisation.

(vii)Superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance.

(ix)Outstanding ecological and biological processes in the evolution of terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine ecosystems.

Cultural archive

Related quotation

Something hidden. Go and find it. Go and look behind the Ranges.

Rudyard Kipling · The ExplorerOriginal: Something hidden. Go and find it. Go and look behind the Ranges.Original work in the public domainSource ↗

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