TODAY: The Centennial Celebrations Begin!

Today is the principal day of celebrations related to the Machu Picchu Centennial, so let´s all wish Machu Picchu a Happy Hundred Year Anniversary!  Festivities are mostly centered in Machu Picchu and Cusco´s Main Square; you can check the program here.  Screens in Cusco´s Main Square will broadcast live the ceremony and musical acts at Machu Picchu, after which the party will continue with concerts and a “light and sound spectacular”.  Tomorrow there´s an all-day dance competition in Cusco´s Main Square as well as a Float Parade through the city´s principal streets.  Finally, on Saturday, international and Peruvian musicians will be performing in the beer garden.

Despite the fact that families were already living in Machu Picchu when he arrived, and other foreigners had beaten him there as well, for much of the world Machu Picchu came into being when Hiram Bingham stumbled across the great ruins of Machu Picchu in 1911.  Thus began a worldwide fascination with the purpose of its construction, the beauty of its walls, and the reason for its abandonment.  Hiram Bingham may not have “discovered” Machu Picchu in the strict sense of the word, but he introduced it to the world and perhaps even saved it by giving it a value beyond that which it had for its inhabitants, that of simple base materials for building and farming.  Today it´s considered a World Heritage Site and is often referred to as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.

“In the variety of its charms and the power of its spell, I know of no place in the world which can compare with it. Not only has it great snow peaks looming above the clouds more than two miles overhead, gigantic precipices of many-colored granite rising sheer for thousands of feet above the foaming, glistening, roaring rapids; it has also, in striking contrast, orchids and tree ferns, the delectable beauty of luxurious vegetation, and the mysterious witchery of the jungle.”

– Hiram Bingham