The great Inca citadel Machu Picchu sits high in the Peruvian Andes, having emerged from beneath the canopy of a rainforest after being hidden for nearly 400 years. Take a vicarious journey to an architectural and archeological wonder—a fortress that survived to become one of the world’s greatest enigmas. Through the eyes of photographer Mike Torrey, who visited and photographed Machu Picchu during the June and December solstices, and writer Marie Arana, who lived as a child on the Peruvian coast, explore Machu Picchu’s history and culture, its vegetation and wildlife, and what it reveals about the lives of the Inca. Learn how Machu Picchu’s architecture incorporates both scientific and spiritual principles: for example, the way the first rays of the sun—worshipped by the Incas as the god Inti— enter the Temple of the Sun and mark the arrival of the winter solstice.

Arana is a writer at large for the Washington Post. Torrey is an architectural photographer. His book Stone Offerings: Machu Picchu’s Terraces of Enlightenment (Lightpoint Press) is available for signing after the program.

Connect with the Authors is a continuously updated listing of past, present, and future author visits. Through this site, each publication can be purchased in advance of, or following, the program.