Machu Picchu, photo by Peter Frost

Once upon a time, the Swiss-born Canadian filmmaker, author and adventurer Bernard Weber had a dream – which unlike most of ours, he acted upon. In 2001, he created a Foundation with the aims of contributing to the protection of the world's human-built and natural heritage and to foster respect for the cultural diversity of our planet. The first step towards achieving these? A bid to promote and engage this concept globally with a unique challenge to identify the ‘new seven wonders of the world'. With the Great Pyramids of Egypt the only one of the original seven wonders still in existence, Weber believed that the time was right to democratically choose another six.

Over 100 million voters agreed, and of the original 200 nominations, seven were spectacularly announced in Lisbon on 7.7.07. Machu Picchu was chosen alongside the Taj Mahal in India, Chichen Itza in Mexico, Petra in Jordan, the Great Wall of China and the Christ Redeemer in Brazil.

Of the many Inca ruins of Peru, Machu Picchu continues to capture the imagination. It is in part the spectacularly beautiful setting of this city in the clouds, built between 1460-70 by Emperor Pachacútec, that stuns. Lying halfway up an Andean Plateau, its terraces sit high above the Amazon jungle and the Urubamba River. Overlooked by the Spanish Conquistadors it was ‘lost' for over three centuries until its discovery in 1911 by charismatic Yale professor, aviator and later senator Hiram Bingham. This isolation helped to preserve the layout and artefacts of the site left seemingly in a hurry by the Incas after a suspected smallpox outbreak.

photos by Marisol Mosquera

Ironically, this month Yale University has agreed, after a long stand-off, to return over 350 ceramic, metal and stone objects and several thousand fragments to the Peruvian government. To complete this happy ending, the collection will now form a new international travelling exhibition and the entrance fees will be used to build a new museum and research centre in Cuzco. It seems that collectively, Machu Picchu's timeless mystique has been acknowledged. “The people of the world have created a global memory,” says Weber, “Seven things that everyone will remember.”

To experience Machu Picchu for yourself, contact us or view one of our sample itinerararies.

The New Seven Wonders Foundation, www.new7wonders.com

To read the latest news about the artefacts, read ‘Yale Officials Agree to Return Peruvian Artefacts' by Randy Kennedy, New York Times 17 th September 2007 on our blog.