Lower Section of Machu Picchu

This is a closer look at the lower section of the ruins.  I thought it wasn't at all shabby even though it was for the "lower class" workers.

Machu Picchu was built in 1450 as an estate for Inca Emperor Pacachuti.  It was inhabited for 100 years and survived the Spanish Inquisition because the Incas left to go to Ollantaytambo Ruins where larger numbers of people could better attempt to hold off the Spaniards.  They were successful and the Spaniards never learned of the presence of Machu Picchu.  But the hold on Ollantaytambo was tenuous and eventually the Incas left there, too.  None of the Inca people returned to Machu Picchu and it was revealed by Hiram Bingham in 1911.  It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983.