Ancient Incan ruin of Machu Picchu under threat of forest fire

One of the seven wonders of the world, Machu Picchu may fall victim to a forest fire. On Thursday, Peruvian firefighters fought hard to contain a fire near the ancient site. The first fire was dangerously close to the ancient city.

The fire in the Andean mountains was about the size of half of Vatican City. It was started by farmers burning grass and debris to prepare the soil for new crops.

The dangerous fire started on Tuesday and kept burning for two days. The mayor of the nearby city of Cusco said about 20 hectares (49 acres) had been affected by the fire. Roberto Abarca, director of the Cusco risk management and security office, said the area is quite inaccessible which made it tougher to get the fire under control, reported Reuters.

Machu Picchu is a complex of stone structures sitting atop a mountain. It was built over 500 years ago by the Incan empire that controlled a lot of South America at the time. Historians think the Incan civilisation spread from current southern Ecuador to Central Chile. The Cusco region is Peru's top tourist destination due to the presence of Machu Picchu.

Little is known about Machu Picchu because the Incans did not have a written language. The site became the centre of attention when Europeans found it in the 19th century. Archeologists refer to it as "the lost city of Incas" and think the citadel was constructed as an estate for the Inca emperor Pachacuti (1438-1472).

Built in around 1450, the structure was abandoned a century later at the time of the Spanish conquest.

Historians are fascinated with Machu Picchu because it is built in classic Inca style with polished dry-stone walls and three primary structures - the Intihuatana (ritual stone associated with the astronomical clock), the Temple of the Sun, and the Room of the Three Windows.