Andina

Peru: Machu Picchu's interpretation center to be built starting January 2020

13:29 | Machu Picchu (Cusco region), Sep. 4.

Tourists visiting the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu, in Cusco, will acquire a better knowledge and information on the archaeological park's historical, architectural, and cultural value thanks to a new research and interpretation center to be built in the area.


According to Fredy Escobar, director of the Decentralized Culture Directorate of Cusco (DDC), this is an important project for the management of tourist visits in Machu Picchu, and is currently in both the design and construction phase.

"It will be an initiation zone for tourists to be informed —in a virtual way— of all the areas within Machu Picchu, in such a way that once they receive the information, they can decide which places to visit," he remarked on Wednesday.

The project will cost about S/140 million (around US$41.1 million), and the last actions are being taken these days. 

Afterwards, the project will be put out to public tender "because we are conservators but not builders. This work is expected to start sometime between December this year and January 2020," he estimated.

The research and interpretation center will be located in the lower part of Machu Picchu, at the beginning of the road leading to the sanctuary, over the left margin of the Vilcanota River, where the Manuel Chavez Ballon Site Museum currently sits.

 
The initiative came following a recommendation of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), whose purpose is the preservation of Machu Picchu, the Inca country's most famous UNESCO World Heritage Site.

"Our main job is the preservation of heritage, Peru's heritage, which would be preserved with fewer visitors, but we need the influx of tourists for development purposes," Escobar explained.



(END) PHS/MAO/RMB/MVB

Published: 9/4/2019