Tiwanaku

Tiwanaku is in Bolivia, high up in the mountains.

It is close to a big lake called Lake Titicaca. Long ago, it was a big city. Now its stone ruins stand on a wide, high plain.

Tiwanaku lies on the Altiplano, a high plain in the Andes, near the southern shore of Lake Titicaca in Bolivia. It is 3,850 meters above sea level.

UNESCO says most of the ancient city was built of adobe, which is sun-dried mud brick, and today a modern town covers much of it. But the big stone buildings of its ceremonial center survive in protected archaeological areas.

UNESCO places Tiwanaku near the southern shores of Lake Titicaca on the Altiplano, at 3,850 m, in the Province of Ingavi, Department of La Paz. Its full title on the World Heritage List is 'Tiwanaku: Spiritual and Political Centre of the Tiwanaku Culture'. Most of the ancient city, largely built of adobe, lies under the modern town; the monumental stone buildings of the ceremonial center survive in protected zones.

The protected areas set by Bolivian decree in 2000 are the Kalasasaya area (23.5 ha), the Pumapunku area (7.0 ha) and the Mollukontu area (41 ha), with a protection band 100 m wide around them. ICOMOS notes that large parts of the ancient city lie unfenced beneath the village and farmhouses, and UNESCO calls enforcing protection there crucial.

The most impressive building is a stepped pyramid called the Akapana.

Nearby is a large walled yard with the Gate of the Sun. The gate was cut from one giant stone!

The most impressive monument, UNESCO says, is the Akapana, a pyramid that once had seven platforms, one on top of another, rising more than 18 meters. North of it is the Kalasasaya, a large open rectangular court about 128 by 126 meters, which people believe was used to watch the sky. You enter it up seven steps in the middle of its east wall.

Inside the Kalasasaya stands the Gate of the Sun, made from a single slab of andesite, a volcanic rock. Above its doorway runs a carved band of figures, and UNESCO says the design has been interpreted as a farming calendar.

The Akapana, Tiwanaku's most imposing monument, had a base of 194 m by 194.4 m and originally seven superimposed platforms with stone retaining walls rising over 18 m; only the lowest and part of an intermediate wall survive intact, surrounded by well-preserved drainage canals. The Small Semi-subterranean Temple measures 26 m by 28.47 m, with walls of 48 red sandstone pillars and carved stone heads set into them. To the north, the Kalasasaya (128 m by 126 m) is thought, from its orientation, to have served as an observatory; it is entered by seven steps in the center of its east wall and holds two carved monoliths.

The Gate of the Sun inside it was cut from a single slab of andesite, now broken into two pieces, to form a doorway with niches on either side. Its frieze shows a central figure on a stepped platform, with an elaborate headdress and a staff in each hand, flanked by rows of bird-like figures with human features and, below, a row of human faces; UNESCO says the ensemble has been interpreted as an agricultural calendar.

In the photo, a big stone gate stands under a blue sky.

Across its top are rows of tiny carvings. Through the doorway you can see snowy mountains far away.

The photo shows the Gate of the Sun on its stone base. You can see the carved band across the top, with a larger figure in the middle and rows of small carved squares around it, and a crack to the right of the middle, where ICOMOS says the slab is broken in two. There is a small niche on each side.

Through the doorway, snowy mountains show in the far distance, and dry, grassy land spreads around the gate. Systematic digging and restoration at Tiwanaku began only in 1957, ICOMOS says.

The photo shows the Gate of the Sun from the front: the frieze with its central figure and rows of smaller carved panels, the crack on the right where the slab is broken into two pieces, a niche on each jamb, the stone base, and a thin wire barrier strung in front. Snow-capped peaks appear through the doorway and dry grassland spreads behind.

ICOMOS records that visitors and scholars studied Tiwanaku from the 16th century, but that early efforts mostly removed works of art; systematic excavation and restoration began in 1957. In 2000 it noted that the research center's team was working against rain and snow, humidity, salt, wind, sun and the effects of tourism. UNESCO says long-term conservation measures are still needed to keep the remains stable against the climate.