Machu Picchu is considered as the most popular symbol of the ancient great Inca Empire, the largest empire established in pre-Columbian America. 

The ancient city is situated 44 miles northwest of Cuzco high up in a mountain ridge of Machu Picchu that is 2,430 meters above the Urubamba Valley in Peru. Machu Picchu is often referred as the "Lost City of the Incas".

It is considered to be one of the finest architectural masterpieces that displayed the remarkable artistry and greatness of the Inca civilization during its time.

Machu Picchu was believed to be constructed at around 1450 that was the height of the Inca Empire. The city was abandoned about a century later as the Inca Empire began to collapse under the Spanish conquest.

During that time, the capital city of the Incas was never found by the Spanish invaders and therefore was never destroyed. Over the years, the abandoned ancient city was covered by the dense jungle surrounding it.

A few people knew of the city's existence and was largely forgotten until sometime in 1911 when a Yale historian and explorer named Hiram Bingham brought the lost Inca city to the world's attention again.

According to archeologists who have visited the ruins of Machu Picchu and studied its city plan, the urban sector of the city was divided into three districts. They were the Sacred District, the Popular District and the District of the Priests and Nobility.

The Sacred District contained the primary archeological treasures of the city which were dedicated to Inti, the Inca sun god and the greatest deity.

The Popular District was the area in the ancient city where the people belonging to the lower classes lived. This area contained several storage buildings as well as simple dwellings where the people lived.

The District of the Priests and Nobility was the area that was reserved for the nobles and royalty of the Inca. This sector contained a group of houses arranged in rows over a slope.

Part of this group of houses became the residence of the Amautas, considered as the wise men of the empire. Their homes were characterized by its reddish walls. The other part became the home of the Nustas, or the princesses. These houses were characterized by their trapezoid-shaped rooms.

Overall, the lost city of Machu Picchu displayed the classic Inca architectural style which usually featured intricately fitted and polished dry stone walls.

The Incas were masters of a building technique called ashlar. This technique is characterized by arranging regular shaped blocks of stone and fitted together tightly without the use of mortar to keep the blocks together.

There are parts of the city where this building technique was so perfectly applied that a knife cannot be inserted in between two blocks of stone.

What made the lost city of Machu Picchu even more extraordinary as to how it was built is that the Incas were a people who never used the wheel in nay practical manner.

It is still a mystery for archeologists how the Incas were able to move and arrange the enormous blocks of stone to build their city without using the wheel.

Machu Picchu is truly a remarkable ancient city that was a testament to the greatness and skill of the ancient Inca civilization.