For the Inca trail related to Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu is a pre-Columbian 15th-century Inca site located above sea level. It is situated on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru, which is northwest of Cusco and through which the Urubamba River flows. Most archaeologists believe that Machu Picchu was built as an estate for...

, see Intipuncu

Intipuncu

Intipuncu or Intipunku is an Incan Trail connected to Machu Picchu. The term translates as "Gate of the Sun" or "Gateway of the Sun."...

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The so-called Gate of the Sun is a megalithic solid stone arch or gateway constructed by the ancient Tiwanaku

Tiwanaku

Tiwanaku, is an important Pre-Columbian archaeological site in western Bolivia, South America. Tiwanaku is recognized by Andean scholars as one of the most important precursors to the Inca Empire, flourishing as the ritual and administrative capital of a major state power for approximately five...

 culture of Bolivia over 1500 years before the present.

It is located near Lake Titicaca at about 3,825 m above sea level near La Paz

La Paz

Nuestra Señora de La Paz is the administrative capital of Bolivia, as well as the departmental capital of the La Paz Department, and the second largest city in the country after Santa Cruz de la Sierra...

, Bolivia

Bolivia

Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...

. The object is approximately 9.8 ft (3 m) tall and 13 ft (4 m) wide, and is constructed from a single piece of stone. The weight is estimated to be 10 tons. When rediscovered by European explorers in the mid-19th century, the megalith was lying horizontally and had a large crack going through it. It currently stands in the same location where it was found, although it is believed that this is not its original location, which remains uncertain.

The Gate of the Sun is a valuable monument to the history of art and ancient architecture. Some elements of Tiwanaku iconography spread throughout Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

 and parts of Bolivia. Although there have been various modern interpretations of the mysterious inscriptions found on the object, the engravings that decorate the gate are believed to possess astronomical and/or astrological significance and may have served a calendrical purpose.

Figures on Gate of the Sun

The lintel is carved with 48 squares surrounding a central figure. Each square represents a character in the form of winged effigy

Effigy

An effigy is a representation of a person, especially in the form of sculpture or some other three-dimensional form.The term is usually associated with full-length figures of a deceased person depicted in stone or wood on church monuments. These most often lie supine with hands together in prayer,...

. There are 32 effigies with human faces and 16 with condor's heads. All look to the central figure, whose identity remains an enigma. It is a figure of a man with the head surrounded by 24 linear rays that may represent rays of solar light. The styled staffs held by the figure apparently symbolize thunder and lightning. Some historians and archaeologists believe that the central figure represents the “Sun God” judging by the rays emitted from it head, while others have identified it with the Inca god Viracocha

Viracocha

Viracocha is the great creator god in the pre-Inca and Inca mythology in the Andes region of South America. Full name and some spelling alternatives are Apu Qun Tiqsi Wiraqutra and Con-Tici Viracocha...

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