The Temple of the Condor
Rock-carved condor altar with sculpted wings, a hidden cave, and channels cut for ritual offerings.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to the Temple of the Condor at Machu Picchu explains how Inca stonemasons shaped two natural rock faces and a carved beak stone into the wings and head of a giant condor, a bird tied to the Inca upper world of sky and stars. It follows what researchers found beneath the wings, a narrow cave with channels for liquid offerings and fragments of fine ceramics and cloth, and the nearby cells with trapezoidal doorways that some early explorers once mistook for a prison. Kneel at the base of the two great slabs to see the wings frame you from either side.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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