Pre-Columbian sacred sites in Bolivia

Akapan Pyramid

Part of Tiwanaku Archaeological Site

Tiwanaku, La Paz, Bolivia

The Akapana is the largest structure at Tiwanaku, Bolivia — a seven-tiered stepped pyramid built around 600 AD to replicate the sacred Quimsachata mountains....

Gate of the Moon

Part of Tiwanaku Archaeological Site

Tiwanaku, La Paz, Bolivia

At Tiwanaku on the Bolivian altiplano, a gateway carved from a single block of andesite stands as the lunar counterpart to the famous Gate of the Sun....

Isla Del Luna

Part of Lake Titicaca

Copacabana, La Paz, Bolivia

Isla de la Luna rises from Lake Titicaca at nearly four thousand metres, the place where Inca cosmology located the birth of the moon....

Isla Del Sol

Part of Lake Titicaca

Copacabana, La Paz, Bolivia

Rising from the deep blue of the world's highest navigable lake, Isla del Sol is the place where Inca cosmology locates the birth of the Sun itself....

Kalasasaya Temple or Temple of the Standing Stones

Part of Tiwanaku Archaeological Site

Tiwanaku, La Paz, Bolivia

The Kalasasaya rises from the Bolivian Altiplano at nearly 3,850 metres, a vast rectangular enclosure of standing stones engineered to frame the solstice and equinox...

Puma Punku

Part of Tiwanaku Archaeological Site

Tiwanaku, La Paz, Bolivia

Puma Punku is the unfinished masterwork of the Tiwanaku civilization, a 6th-century platform mound in the Bolivian altiplano whose stonework defies easy explanation....

Ruins of El Fuerte ceremonial site, Samaipata

Municipio Samaipata, Santa Cruz, Bolivia

Rising from Bolivia's eastern foothills where the Andes descend toward Amazonia, El Fuerte de Samaipata is a single enormous sandstone outcrop carved by the Chane people...

Salar de Uyuni

Municipio Colcha K, Potosí, Bolivia

The world's largest salt flat spreads across the Bolivian Altiplano at 3,656 metres, a white expanse so vast and level that during the rains the sky reflects in it...

Semi-subterranean Temple at Tiwanaku

Part of Tiwanaku Archaeological Site

Tiwanaku, La Paz, Bolivia

Sunk two metres into the Altiplano at 3,870 metres, this court is the oldest monumental structure at Tiwanaku....

Tiwanaku Archaeological Site

Tiwanaku, La Paz, Bolivia

Tiwanaku rises from the Altiplano at nearly 4,000 meters, the spiritual and political capital of a pre-Inca civilization that unified architecture, astronomy, and worship...