From 1929 to 1971, Machu Picchu underwent extensive restoration and conservation work, including structural stabilization and artifact excavation, driven by government initiatives and research expeditions.

Guinea pigs were also found at the site in special tomb caves, suggesting that they were at least used for funerary rituals,[32] as it was common throughout the Inca Empire to use them for sacrifices and meat.

[39]: 263 In the late 16th century, Spaniards who had recently gained control of the area documented that indigenous individuals mentioned returning to "Huayna Picchu", the name that is believed to be originally given to the site by locals.

[15] The Spanish conquistador Baltasar de Ocampo had notes of a visit during the end of the 16th century to a mountain fortress called Pitcos with sumptuous and majestic buildings, erected with great skill and art, all the lintels of the doors, as well the principal as the ordinary ones, being of marble and elaborately carved.

Initially disappointed, he documented in his pocket field journal: "Agustín Lizárraga is discoverer of Machu Picchu and lives at San Miguel Bridge just before passing.

He organized the 1911 Yale Peruvian Expedition in part to search for the Inca capital, which was thought to be the city of Vitcos, located in the opposite direction to the town of Torontoy.

[47] He consulted Carlos Romero, one of the chief historians in Lima who showed him helpful references and Father Antonio de la Calancha's Chronicle of the Augustinians.

En route, Bingham asked local people to show them Inca ruins, especially any place described as having a white rock over a spring.

At the top of the mountain, they came across a small hut occupied by a couple of Quechua people, Richard and Alvarez, who were farming some of the original Machu Picchu agricultural terraces that they had cleared four years earlier.

Guided by locals, Bingham rediscovered and correctly identified the site of the old Inca capital, Vitcos (then called Rosaspata), and the nearby temple of Chuquipalta.

In 1964, Gene Savoy further explored the ruins at Espiritu Pampa and revealed the full extent of the site, identifying it as Vilcabamba Viejo, where the Incas fled after the Spanish drove them from Vitcos.

[53][24]: xxxv [54] Bingham returned to Machu Picchu in 1912 under the sponsorship of Yale University and National Geographic and with the full support of Peruvian President Augusto Leguia.

[59] In addition to the ruins, the sanctuary includes a large portion of the adjoining region, rich with the flora and fauna of the Peruvian Yungas and Central Andean wet puna ecoregions.

[61] In 1983, UNESCO designated Machu Picchu a World Heritage Site, describing it as "a masterpiece of art, urbanism, architecture and engineering" and "a unique testimony" of the Inca Civilization.

The station, called Puente Ruinas (the bridge to the ruins) is the end of the line for the tren de turismo, the tourist train, which arrives every morning from Cusco and returns every afternoon.

In the late 1990s, the Peruvian government granted concessions to allow the construction of a cable car and a luxury hotel, including a tourist complex with boutiques and restaurants and a bridge to the site.

[70] These plans faced widespread protests, with critics arguing that the government had failed to conduct a proper environmental impact survey, as requested by the National Institute of Natural Resources, which warned of potential harm to the ecosystem.

[74] In January 2010, severe flooding caused by El Niño trapped over 4,000 people and disrupted access to Machu Picchu, leading to its temporary closure.

[78] To further address tourism's impact, stricter entrance regulations were introduced in July 2011, limiting the number of daily visitors to 2,500 per day to the citadel and 400 to Huayna Picchu.

[81][82] In May 2012, UNESCO urged additional protection measures for the site's buffer zone, especially due to the rapid growth in the nearby town of Aguas Calientes.

[83] Tourist deaths at Machu Picchu from altitude sickness, floods, and accidents have led to criticism of UNESCO for allowing visits despite the site's high safety risks.

[88] In recognition of efforts to manage and protect the site, Fernando Astete, who served as Chief of the National Archaeological Park of Machu Picchu from 1994 to 2019, was honored with the "Personalidad Meritoria de la Cultura" award by the Ministry of Culture of Peru in January 2020.

[104] The royalty area, a sector for the nobility, is a group of houses located in rows over a slope; the residence of the amautas (wise people) was characterized by its reddish walls, and the zone of the ñustas (princesses) had trapezoid-shaped rooms.

[105] In 2005 and 2009, the University of Arkansas made detailed laser scans of the entire site and of the ruins at the top of the adjacent Huayna Picchu mountain.

[114] In 1912, 1914 and 1915, Bingham removed thousands of artifacts from Machu Picchu—ceramic vessels, silver statues, jewelry, and human bones—and took them to Yale University for further study, supposedly for 18 months.

[119] The artifacts are permanently exhibited at the Museo Machu Picchu, La Casa Concha ("The Shell House"), close to Cusco's colonial center.

Owned by the National University of San Antonio Abad del Cusco, La Casa Concha also features a study area for local and foreign students.

[120] The central buildings in the Machu Picchu citadel use the classical Inca architectural style of polished dry-stone walls of regular shape.

Instead, the Inca mined stones from some quarries at the site,[122] including one recently discovered using remote sensing techniques, which was probably located in the catchment area between the Hurin and Hanan before it was covered over to create the current Plaza Principal.

[135] Machu Picchu was featured prominently in the film The Motorcycle Diaries (2004), a biopic based on the 1952 youthful travel memoir of Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara.