Machi Picchu was constructed around1450,atthe height of the Inca empire,and was abandoned less than 100 years later,as the empire collapsed under spanish conquest.Although the citadel is located only 50 miles from Cusco,The inca Capital,it was never found and desstroyed by the spanish,as were many other Inca sites.Over the centuriess,the surrounding jungle grew to enshroud the site,and few knew of it's existence.In 1911,Yale historian and explorer Hiram Bingham brought the ''Lost City to the worlds Attention.