Surrounded by the Peruvian Andes, at 2430m altitude above Urubamba River stands Machu Picchu, one of the most spectacular archaeological discoveries in Latin America. The Incas built the citadel around 1450, and abandoned it a century later at the time of the Spanish Conquest. Although its exact purpose still remains unknown, Machu Picchu was most likely a religious sanctuary and a residential area for the ruler Pachacuti. Considered a symbol of the Inca culture, architecture, and engineering, in 2007 the "Lost City of the Incas" was declared one of the 7 Wonders of the Modern World.