Machu Picchu, the famous "Lost City of the Incas", a pre-Columbian 15th-century Inca site located 2,430 metres (7,970 ft) above sea level on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru, which is 80 kilometres (50 mi) northwest of Cuzco. Most archaeologists believe that Machu Picchu was built as an estate for the Inca emperor Pachacuti (1438–1472). View from below the Watchtower over the city and Huyana Picchu. The Intihuatana Group and Huyana Picchu.