The Temple of the Condor — Local services in Machu Picchu

Sinister synthesis in stone. In the temple of the condor it is excellent to see how the Incas manage to fit a natural rock formation into a building. The condor's head lies on the ground and the wings are spread out at right angles behind it. Since there is a prison complex directly behind the temple, it is most likely that (death) sentences and offerings were held in the temple, with the condor's head functioning as a sacrificial altar. Despite its sinister function, the Temple of the Condor is one of the most beautiful parts of...

In the south side of the Eastern Urban Sector is the Temple of the Condor, a complex structure constructed on natural rock formations with grottos and subterranean passageways. The flat triangular rock in the foreground represents the condor's head with carved eyes and beak. The abutting semicircular stones represent the condor's ruff. The rock formations behind form the shape of two outstretched wings of a...

Built to worship the “Apu Kuntur” (condor), which was one of the three sacred animals of the Inca culture. The temple is structured on a natural cave taking advantage of the actual rock of the mountain: among them stands a formation that was adapted and shaped to be the wings of a huge bird, beneath them on the ground, a huge stone Carved in the shape of the head...