NAIL ART AND NAIL DESIGN: Explore the ancient city Machu Picchu of the Incas

Explore the ancient city 'Machu Picchu' of the Incas.

Situated atop Mount Machu Picchu, at an altitude of about 2,350 meters above sea level, the ancient city of Machu Picchu is the most magnificent remnant of the Inca - the most powerful South American empire from the 13th to the 16th centuries.

What remains of today's Machu Picchu are 140 structures, including temples, ... and hundreds of stone steps carved into the cliff. Machu Picchu is only 5 square kilometers. Machu Picchu also has gardens, temples and stone houses, even stairs are built neatly along the hillside.

All of the structures in Machu Picchu are built in the Incas architecture. The rocks were arranged scientifically and seemed to have calculated ahead of each curve, straight line. The Inca was the master of stoneless adhesive technique.

Archaeologists have also found traces of an irrigation system that has been used to drain water from a sacred stream to every house in the city.

In general, Machu Picchu is divided into three major areas: the sacred area, the civic area and the area of the priests and the aristocracy (royal area).

Historians believe that the city was built by Sapa Inca Pachacuti in around 1440, and remained uninhabited until the invasion of the Spanish Inca empire in 1532.

Recent studies have shown that Machu Picchu is not a regular city, but rather a resort town of the Inca nobility.

It is estimated that at the busiest of times, only no more than 750 people live in Machu Picchu. In rain season, the number of residents here is very little.

Many people think that this place has been chosen because of its unique location as well as geographical features. The shadow of the mountain behind Machu Picchu is the Incan face that looks up to the sky and the largest peak in Huayna Picchu is the nose of it. From the bottom up look can not see, also can not know the existence of Machu Picchu. Around Machu Picchu is a system of terraces, cages ... so it can be seen as self-sufficient city and separate from the outside world.

There is also a presumption that Machu Picchu was a settlement built for the Inca people to manage the conquered area, or it was built to protect the Inca aristocracy in the case that they is attacked. Others say that this is a religious place.

Whatever Machu Picchu was built for, it embodies advances in agricultural and irrigation technology with sophisticated stone structures and smart irrigation systems.

After the decline of the Inca Empire, Machu Picchu was neglected for centuries, until American historian Hiram Bingham discovered the city in 1911. Some doctrine suggests that a drought destroyed the Incas, or that they were in a civil war.

Hiram Bingham completed a survey of the entire Machu Picchu mountains and launched the famous book "The Lost City of the Incas". Since then, the world has known the Inca civilization with the wonders left in Machu Picchu.

Since 1983, the ancient city of Machu Picchu has been recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. In recent years, Machu Picchu is one of the leading tourist destinations in South America, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.

However, the tourism development also made Macchu Picchu stand at the risk of serious harm. Therefore, UNESCO is considering putting Machu Picchu on the list of threatened World Heritages.