Chavin de Huantar
The number of Wikipedia languages with an article is our measure of how widely known a site is. Counts of visitors and wishes will appear once enough people use the app.
Seals, want-to-go and the year you stood here are recorded in the iPhone app.
How it came to be
Chavín de Huántar is a temple site at the meeting of two rivers east of the Cordillera Blanca in Peru's Ancash Region, at 3,180 metres. The Chavín culture, which flourished in the Andes between the 15th and 5th centuries BC, takes its name from it.
Building began before 1200 BC, and most major construction was finished by 750 BC. Stone temples and artificial terraces surround plazas, and inside runs a network of galleries for air and drainage. At the centre stands the Lanzón, a carved figure with a human body and a feline head, and people came from far away for rituals and oracles. By about 500 BC its religious role had ended, and a village grew over the Circular Plaza.
In the early 20th century the Peruvian archaeologist Julio C. Tello called it the birthplace of South American culture. A law of 1929 made it a national monument, but a flood in 1945 partly buried the site and a strong earthquake struck in 1970. It was inscribed in 1985.
Data: Wikidata (CC0). Photos: Wikimedia Commons, under each photo’s license. Prototype; may contain errors. We measure usage anonymously to improve the app (PostHog, EU).