The Revealer

Episode 9

Peru Machu Picchu (airs 15th Sep 2011)

It’s the most famous ruin in the Americas.

Discovered 100 years ago, the purpose of Machu Picchu has always been a bit of a mystery.

Tour guides in Peru will offer a range of theories – including that it was a convent where the ‘virgins of the sun’ attended the Inca in seclusion, that it was a spiritual hideaway, an agricultural site or even a prison for those who committed crimes against the Inca.

Now, the Revealer discovers its true origins.

Film-maker Hugh Thomson retraces the footsteps of Hiram Bingham, the man who discovered Machu Picchu, and takes us deep into a library archive in Cusco – where we find out who owned Machu Picchu and what it was used for.