Tiwanaku

Through time

The story

Tiwanaku is a Pre-Columbian archaeological site in western Bolivia, near Lake Titicaca, about 70 kilometers from La Paz, and it is one of the largest sites in South America. Surface remains currently cover around 4 square kilometers and include decorated ceramics, monumental structures, and megalithic blocks. It has been conservatively estimated that the site was inhabited by 10,000 to 20,000 people in AD 800.

The site was first recorded in written history in 1549 by Spanish conquistador Pedro Cieza de León while he was searching for the southern Inca capital of Qullasuyu.

Bernabé Cobo, a Jesuit chronicler of Peru, reported that Tiwanaku's name once was taypiqala, which is Aymara meaning "stone in the center", alluding to the belief that it lay at the center of the world. The name by which Tiwanaku was known to its inhabitants may have been lost, as they had no written language. Heggarty and Beresford-Jones suggest that the Puquina language is most likely to have been the language of Tiwanaku.

Adapted from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0.

What you will see

1. Gateway of the Sun
2. Akapana
3. Kalasasaya

Before you go

• Check opening hours and ticket rules shortly before your visit — they change seasonally.
• Plan for the heat. Most ancient sites have little shade; go early or late.
• Respect the barriers. Fragile surfaces are protected for the next visitors.