Temple of the Sun

This guide stands at the Temple of the Sun, the curved granite shrine at Machu Picchu near Aguas Calientes, where Melchor Arteaga led Hiram Bingham up a jungle cliff on the morning of July 24, 1911, in search of a different lost city entirely. It explains why Inca masons broke from their usual straight lines to wrap fitted stone around an already-sacred boulder, on the order of the emperor Pachacuti, and points out the trapezoid window aligned so a blade of light crosses the chamber once a year at dawn. Look for the second, smaller opening beside it before you move on.