In Search Of... Season 1 # 23, Inca Treasure

It is believed that somewhere in the high mountains of Peru lies wealth beyond imagining... gold. The lost treasure of a great empire.

The empire was called "Tiahuanacia ", "Kingdom of the Inka", white men called it: "El Dorado". ... Men still search. Some out of love for the past, some out of love for gold. The great city of the Incas was Cuzco. God-kings rules over 12 Million subjects. Magnificent buildings were built to last forever and thousands of artist labored for the Inka-state. Even in death the Inca were a dignified race. 180 Spanish soldiers drove many Incas into the mountains fleeing from death and abandoning their city.

In 1910 a Yale student, Hirom Bingum, devoted a part of his life to follow the blurred trail of the Inca into the Andes. He found the temples of Machu Pichu. But Bingum was wrong. Machu Pichu was not the last capital of the Incas. In 1076 Edmondo Gian travelled with a group of scientists to set the record of history straight. A combination of research and luck got him letters that showed a detailed description of the lost city. Gian planned to enter the city the same day the soldiers did. He did - 403 years after soldiers of Spain had sacked the city of Vilcabamba. Vilcabamba was hastily constructed as a refuge from the soldiers, yet the city's waterworks were as sophisticated as anything in Cuzco: After 400 years they still work. There was a temple of the sun, it's roof covered with solid gold, but the Incas had not left any other gold in the city. And they had not give up their empire as it was first believed. The city was build to endure tens of years of siege. After more than 400 years Gian has reclaimed Vilcabamba for the Incas.