Machu Picchu – Seen through the eyes of Fernando Astete

Photo Credtis: José Bastante

The UNESCO Chair in ICT to develop and promote sustainable tourism in World Heritage Sites at USI Università della Svizzera italiana is proud to present “Machu Picchu Seen Through the Eyes of Fernando Astete”, an international and interdisciplinary project for the creation of a website and photo archive, designed to increase awareness on the cultural and natural values of the World Heritage Site Machu Picchu and to allow tourists to get a deeper understanding of the richness and complexity of the management of such site.

The official website has the aim of witnessing, through storytelling, the experience of Fernando Astete, a Peruvian anthropologist and archaeologist who, as Chief of the National Archaeological Park of Machu Picchu from 1994 to 2019 dedicated more than thirty years of his life to the research, preservation, and conservation of the site. Fondo Fernando Astete, developed in collaboration with USI’s Iconoteca dell’Accademia di Architettura Mendrisio, is a collection of slides constituting the historical archive of Fernando and representing his efforts in safeguarding the collective memory of the archaeological and cultural identity of Peru.

The initiative was carried out in collaboration with the UNESCO Chair in Anthropology of Health (Biosphere and Systems of Heal) at the University of Genoa and Museum of Ethnomedicine A. Scarpa, and the Dirección Desconcentrada de Cultura de Cusco. Its main goals are to document Fernando’s experience, unveilling the secrets of the site, and telling stories about the mystic and fascinating place of Machu Picchu.

Discover the website: https://www.machupicc.hu/

Discover the archive: https://iconoteca.arc.usi.ch/en/collection/1824

Recent News about the project