Corihuayrachina (Koriwayrachina)

The ruins of Corihuayrachina were sighted by renowned British photographer Peter Frost in the Vilcabamba region in 1999. The area is remote, not available for tourism yet and won't be for at least several decades after the discovery.

The expedition was only started 2 years after the discovery, in 2001, due to the remoteness, inaccessibility of the site. Corihuayrachina is 3.900 m high on a mountain top. One of the highest spots where Inca ruins are.

Explorers said that the city could have been an Inca place of resistance against Spanish conquistadors. Even though, if was probably discovered by the Spaniards, it remained quite well preserved. There are signs of destruction, looting. Experts say that some of the looting might have happened as late as in the 1940s-1950s. Someone did discover the place, but not let the scientific community know about it. Amateur treasure hunters, people living in the area could have been those who took whatever they found here.

Even so, pottery and human remains were left behind. These are good resources of information for specialists.

Corihuayrachina is 40 km from where Machu Picchu was discovered by Hiram Bingham in 1911.

The complex of Corihuayrachina consists of over 100 dwellings: pyramids, storehouses, towers, plantation terraces, also a cemetery and waterways. Surface area is 6 km².

Explorers have also come across a water canal, about 8 km long.

Corihuayrachina is located close to an ancient Inca silver mine. Perhaps, another reason for some enthusiasts to believe that there might be hidden Inca treasures in this city.

Interestingly, the stone tools found on the site are from 2 different time periods.

Scientists believe that the city was constructed around 1200 and was abandoned, afterwards it was again inhabited and lost again in the myst of time.

The purpose of the construction is perhaps a religious one. There are many temples, just like in Machu Picchu and, the location was also carefully chosen: high on a mountain, surrounded by many snow-capped mountaintops of the Andes.

Some might confuse Corihuayrachina with Choquequirao, which is called the "Sacred Sister of Machu Picchu". The latter is a well preserved Inca ruin, quite far away from this site.