10.Machu Picchu

Peru

Great lost city, Machu Picchu is without doubt the most spectacular pre-Columbian monument in Latin America.

At 2,430 m above sea level in a mountainous site of extraordinary beauty, in the middle of a tropical forest, its walls, terraces and ramps sculpt rock escarpments.

Between empty and cloud, the site has lost none of its mystery. The debate surrounding its origin and its function is still valid. Was he a religious capital? The residence of an emperor? The last refuge of the Virgins of the Sun (aclla)? Or the ultimate Inca capital? The question is still unresolved.

After a total lack of interest based in Cuzco Spanish conquistadors in the sixteenth century, the site was abandoned for three centuries. It was rediscovered in 1911 and is now a World Heritage of Humanity. Machu Picchu, which receives 800,000 visitors a year, is a victim of its success. It would, according to Unesco, at risk.