Machu Picchu, Peru, Fountain Postcard

Here is one in a series of fountains that supplied Machu Picchu's inhabitants with clean, fresh water. Inca engineers brought water in carefully designed channels from a pair of rain-fed springs almost half a mile away from the first fountain. Each fountain had a spout designed to shape a jet of water that was the perfect size for filling an aryballo, the clay water jug of the ancient Andes. The fountains were linked by stone channels that formed a 180-foot-long cascade of water with a total vertical drop of 65 feet. Machu Picchu was built around 1450, at the height of the Inca Empire and was abandoned in 1572. This citadel is probably the most familiar icon of Inca civilization. Although the Machu Picchu citadel is only about 50 miles (80 kilometres) from Cusco, the Inca capital, the Spanish never found it and consequently did not plunder or destroy it, as they did many other sites. After Machu Picchu was abandoned, the surrounding jungle grew over the site, and few knew of its existence. American historian Hiram Bingham brought international attention to the site in 1911. The National Geographic Society devoted their entire April 1913 issue to Machu Picchu. Archaeologists have theorized that Machu Picchu was an estate of the Inca emperor Pachacuti. In 1983 UNESCO designated Machu Picchu a World Heritage Site, describing it as "an absolute masterpiece of architecture and a unique testimony to the Inca civilization." In 2007, Machu Picchu was voted one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in a worldwide Internet poll. In 1981 Peru declared an area of 325.92 square kilometres (125.84 sq mi) surrounding Machu Picchu as a "Historical Sanctuary" It's a very popular tourist destination, but because of the pressure of it being loved to death, tourist numbers are limited each day