Photo Gallery

El interior dañado de las ruinas históricas del Convento de San Agustín (convento e iglesia de San Agustín) en Zaña, un importante yacimiento colonial situado en la provincia de Chiclayo, región de Lambayeque, al norte de Perú. Este templo, fundado en 1584 por los padres agustinos y terminado a principios del siglo XVII, sufrió graves daños a causa del devastador terremoto de 1619, así como, sobre todo, por las catastróficas inundaciones provocadas por el fenómeno de El Niño en 1720, que destruyeron la floreciente ciudad colonial. Los restos del complejo sacro presentan estructuras macizas de ladrillo y arcilla, así como bóvedas y arcos de medio punto conservados, que dan testimonio de la antigua grandeza de la arquitectura colonial. – Norte de Perú – 1976

Chavín Culture, Peru. The huge temple complex near the village of Chavín de Huántar behind the Cordillera Blanca gave its name to a culture whose influence around 1000 BC can be traced over a wide area and in later cultural forms, so that it can be called with some justification the mother culture. Recurring motifs are the jaguar or a mixture of predator, snake and condor and warriors with predator teeth, condor claws and snake hair or hair with condor heads. Here the main portal to the temple complex with the large ceremonial square in the foreground. - 1976

The Portada de las Falcónidas (also known as the Black-and-White Portal) at the archaeological site of Chavín de Huántar in the Ancash region of Peru. It is the magnificent main entrance to the New Temple of the pre-Inca Chavín culture, which flourished between approximately 1500 and 300 BC. The portal is supported by two cylindrical stone columns engraved with complex mythological reliefs (falcon-like or bird-of-prey creatures). The name derives from the differently coloured stone blocks (black limestone and white granite) used in the architecture of this ceremonial area. – Peru – 1969

The classic general view of the ruins of Machu Picchu. In the middle distance the dominant Huayna Picchu. - 1969

The famous Inca ruin city of Machu Picchu, photographed from the opposite peak of Huayna Picchu. On the left, on the hillside, you can see the winding road (Carretera Hiram Bingham) along which buses climb up from Aguas Calientes. The photograph looks south from the higher slopes of Huayna Picchu towards the ridge below, on which stands the citadel of Machu Picchu. The agricultural terraces and stone buildings of the historic Inca site lie at an altitude of around 2,430 metres. – 1976

Completely hidden from view from the bottom of the wild Urubamba Valley, the ‘lost city’ of Machu Picchu stands enthroned on an impregnable granite pedestal at a dizzying altitude of 2,500 metres, in the shadow of Huayna Picchu. It remained hidden for 400 years until the American explorer Hiram Bingham miraculously rediscovered it in 1911. – 1976

The Inca mountain fortress of Machu Picchu, situated at an altitude of 2,690 metres, set against the cone of Huayna Picchu. None of the Spanish conquistadors mention this city on the edge of the jungle, overlooking the River Urubamba (on the right), one of the headwaters of the Amazon. Like other pucaras (fortified settlements), Machu Picchu was self-sufficient in an emergency, but the terraced fields could feed no more than 500 people. This late Inca complex contains buildings of various styles, foremost among them the Royal Palace, constructed from beautifully hewn granite blocks with trapezoidal gateways and window openings. But there are also densely packed, simple stone huts and barrack-like quarters for the soldiers. An oval tower – the only one of its kind – has led to speculation that Machu Picchu was further expanded even after the arrival of the Spaniards. The city was not discovered until 1911 by an expedition searching for the legendary last Inca fortress, Vilcabamba. - Book: Picture 81 - Peru - 1976

The mountain fortress of Machu Picchu, Peru. Initially, it was believed that the various types of masonry found in Cuzco, Machu Picchu and other Inca structures dated from different periods. Today, it is thought that both the walls constructed from interlocking megalithic blocks and those made from smooth, uniformly sized stones, as well as the mortar-bonded fieldstone technique were all employed by the same master builders from the period after 1440, depending on their intended purpose: the megalithic construction method for retaining walls, smooth, evenly rounded ashlars for representative buildings, and mortar-bonded rubble stone walls – alongside adobe bricks – for functional buildings. In Machu Picchu, however, various elements, such as the oval Torreón, suggest that construction continued here even into the colonial period. Inca architecture otherwise features only rectangular or trapezoidal shapes, and vertical arches are completely absent, which, for example, imposed certain limitations on the construction of gates. - Book: Picture 125 - Peru - 1969

Along the partly restored Barracas of the former farmers, 100 stairs with more than 3000 steps run down the slope. They connect 260 palaces, temples, sanctuaries, thermal baths, sacrificial altars, caves of mummies and "hanging gardens" and make Machu Picchu a "stone poem". . . a challenge of nature ... an unfathomable secret. - 1976

In the idyllic ‘Eden’ of the tropical sacred valley of the Incas, the great ruined city of Pisac, one of the ‘capitals’ of the empire, stands at an altitude of 3,100 metres. Around thirty residences of the finest architecture surround the elliptical Intihuatana, dedicated to the worship of the sun. – 1969

The impressive Inca ruins of Písac, situated in the Sacred Valley of the Incas in the Cusco region of Peru. The archaeological site lies on a mountain ridge high above the village of Písac and the River Urubamba. It is famous for its sophisticated architecture, the extensive agricultural terraces (andenes) and its strategic and religious significance during the Inca Empire. In the foreground is the Q’alla Q’asa sector, which, according to researchers, probably served as a residential quarter for guards, soldiers or priests. The buildings are precisely constructed from stone and nestle perfectly against the steep terrain. In the centre lies a sacred rock – the ‘place where the sun is tied’ – which served as an astronomical calendar for the Incas to determine the solstices. – 1976

The central ceremonial area known as Intihuatana within the Parque Arqueológico de Písac in the Sacred Valley of the Incas in Peru. The most striking feature in this area is the semi-circular, D-shaped wall in the top right-hand corner of the picture. It encloses the sacred Intihuatana stone. In Quechua, the term means ‘place where the sun is tied’. It is a pillar hewn from natural rock which served the Incas as a precise solar compass, an astronomical observatory and a ritual altar for determining solstices and harvest cycles. The precise stonemasonry (masonry of finely hewn pink granite without mortar) clearly distinguishes this royal and religious precinct from the simpler residential or military structures in the rest of the fortress. – 1976