Photo Gallery

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La Cordillère des Andes recèle quelques-uns des plus hauts sommets de la planète. Le Huascarán, qui se dresse dans la Cordillera Blanca, impose au paysage sa majestueuse silhouette ; il atteint l'altitude de 6768 mètres. - 1969

The legends are only available in German, French or Spanish
Des indigènes de la Sierra centrale se rendent d'une vallée à une autre en conduisant leur troupeau de vaches. - Quebrada Querococha - Cordillera Blanca. - 1969

The legends are only available in German, French or Spanish
La civilisation Chavin, connue surtout par ses œuvres en pierre, appartient à l’époque formative du Pérou précolombien.

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La religion Chavin est marquée par un culte rendu en l'honneur du condor. Sa représentation, très schématisée, figure sur des dalles qui ornent le temple de la station éponyme de la Cordillère.

The legends are only available in German, French or Spanish
Dans le temple souterrain de Chavin les archéologues ont découvert des dalles montrant la silhouette du puma, un dieu qui sera craint et vénéré pendant toute l'époque précolombienne.

The legends are only available in German, French or Spanish
Une route est en cours de construction qui mène de Yungay au lac Llanganuco dans le Parc National Huascarán dans la cordillère blanche. - 1969

The legends are only available in German, French or Spanish
Sorte de «Jérusalem» des Andes, le célèbre site archéologique de Chavin de Huantar s'élève à 3 200 mètres dans la Cordillera Blanca. D'insolites stèles gravées y ont été mises au jour. Celle-ci est ornée d'un grand prêtre-dieu d'un culte magico-religieux qui influença tout l'ancien Pérou environ deux mille ans av. J.C. Portant un sceptre, coiffés et ceinturés de serpents, les étranges personnages de Chavin sont souvent ailés. Crocs et griffes de félins ou serres de rapace sont caractéristiques du style. (Hauteur de la stèle, 78 centimètres; largeur, 70 centimètres.)

The legends are only available in German, French or Spanish
Lors de son apogée (VIIIe - XIIe siècles), la haute culture de Tiahuanaco déferla tout au long de la côte péruvienne. L'iconographie de ce tissu dit tiahuanacoïde (115 x 58 centimètres) en laine et coton, trouvé sur le site de Campanario (Huarmey) et la frange au signe scalaire, rappellent les étranges petits hommes allis au nez en bec de condor, du linteau de la Porte du Soleil. (Museo Yoshitaro Amano, Lima, Pérou.)

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«Diadème» des Andes centrales, le gigantesque nevado du Huascaran (6768m) - sommet culminant du Pérou et le second d'Amérique -, éclaire de ses neiges éternelles la Cordillera Blanca, longue de 180 kilomètres et qualifiée de «Suisse» péruvienne.

The legends are only available in German, French or Spanish
Sur les sentiers acrobatiques des Andes, le trafic n'est plus uniquement assuré aujourd'hui par le lama, seule bête de charge des âges précolombiens mais aussi par de longues caravanes d'ânes courageux. - Perú - Ancash - Callejón de Huaylas

The legends are only available in German, French or Spanish
Nattes brunes sous sombrero de paille blanche ou de feutre brun, le dos plus chargé que celui de l'âne, ces Indiennes de Huaripampa, dans le département d'Ancash, grimpent courageusement vers quelque lointain marché.

In front of the wall of the famous ceremonial centre of Chavín de Huantar in the middle of the Cordillera Blanca, where a high Peruvian culture emerged 2000 years before the Incas, this Indian plays a sad tune on his quena ... of love and eternity.

The "Callejón de Huaylas" with the Cordillera Blanca is also called "Peruvian Switzerland". On the left the Huascarán 6780 m, on the right the Nevado Copa, 6188 m. - 1969

A weaver with her spindle makes yarn from sheep's wool. Mancos in the Callejón de Huaylas, Department of Ancash. - 1969

An old woman from Yungay talks about the Terremoto earthquake of 31 May 1970, which had a magnitude of 7.8 and killed about 70,000 people. - 1976

Chavín Culture, Peru. The huge temple complex near the village of Chavín de Huántar behind the Cordillera Blanca gave its name to a culture whose influence around 1000 BC can be traced over a wide area and in later cultural forms, so that it can be called with some justification the mother culture. Recurring motifs are the jaguar or a mixture of predator, snake and condor and warriors with predator teeth, condor claws and snake hair or hair with condor heads. Here the main portal to the temple complex with the large ceremonial square in the foreground. - 1976

The Chavín culture, which we know mainly through its stonemasonry, belongs to the developmental period of pre-Columbian Peru. - 1969

The Chavín religion is characterised by a cult in honour of the condor. The very schematic representation of this giant vulture is also found on stone slabs that decorate the temple of the Chavín site in the Cordillera. - 1969

The Lanzón of Chavín is a sacred monolith or wanka that belongs to the Chavín culture. It is carved in irregular granite, 4.54 m high and is located in its original location in a sector of an interior gallery of the Old Temple of Chavín. It is called the "Lanzón" because it has the shape of a giant spire whose ends are firmly embedded in the floor and ceiling of the gallery. It has three sides covered with engraved motifs representing a deity with human features mixed with those of animals. It is the largest of the sculptures or monoliths preserved from the Chavín culture. - 1969

Chavín Culture, Peru. Recurring motifs are the jaguar as in this picture or a mixture of predatory cat, snake and condor and warriors with predator teeth, condor claws and snake hair or hair with condor heads. This relief plate is located at the edge of a circular square between the old and the new temple. - 1976

On one of these blocks is carved the image of a mythical creature that today's archaeologists call "Medusa", but in reality it is the representation of the same mythical creature of the New Temple period that was carved on the " Lanzón " of the Old Temple. - 1976

The heads of nails (Cabezas clavas) are a series of sculptures representing heads of cats, snakes and birds, combined with human features. They owe this name to the fact that they end like a nail in an extension, which meant that they could easily be embedded into the façade of the temple at symmetrical intervals. One theory assumes that they were the guardians of the temple. They were carved in sandstone of different consistency, quartzite and granite. Unfortunately, of the 56 who were there, only one is still on site. The others have disappeared or are kept in museums. - 1976

The heads of nails (Cabezas clavas) are a series of sculptures representing heads of cats, snakes and birds, combined with human features. One theory assumes that they were the guardians of the temple. They were carved in sandstone of different consistency, quartzite and granite. Unfortunately, of the 56 who were there, only one is still on site. The others have disappeared or are kept in museums. - 1969

The heads of nails (Cabezas clavas) are a series of sculptures representing heads of cats, snakes and birds, combined with human features. They have been carved in sandstone of different textures, quartzite and granite. Unfortunately, of the 56 that were there, only one is still on site. The others have disappeared or are kept in museums. - 1969

The heads of nails (Cabezas clavas) are a series of sculptures representing heads of cats, snakes and birds, combined with human features. They have been carved in sandstone of different textures, quartzite and granite. Unfortunately, of the 56 that were there, only one is still on site. The others have disappeared or are kept in museums - 1969

The heads of nails (Cabezas clavas) are a series of sculptures representing heads of cats, snakes and birds, combined with human features. They have been carved in sandstone of different textures, quartzite and granite. Unfortunately, of the 56 that were there, only one is still on site. The others have disappeared or are kept in museums - 1969

During the excavations in Chavín, fragments of stone slabs with anthropomorphic figures were found, probably belonging to a roof cornice. - 1969

This stele shows a figure of a magical-religious cult, under whose influence the whole of ancient Peru was under around 1000 BC. The figure carries a sceptre; hair and belt are made of snakes. Most of these peculiar representations of Chavín also have wings; fangs, cat's claws or birds of prey claws are characteristic features. - 1969

During the excavations in Chavín, fragments of stone slabs with anthropomorphic figures were found, probably belonging to a roof cornice. - 1969

The 180-kilometre-long Cordillera Blanca rises to its highest point at Huascarán, Peru’s highest mountain at 6,768 metres. Snowfields and glaciers also cover the neighbouring peaks, which are scarcely less imposing. Rockfalls and mudslides pose a constant threat to the settlements in the valley. In the foreground are the boulders from a rockfall that occurred in 1970. - Book: Picture 83 - Peru - 1976

This photograph has a deeply tragic and historic background: it shows the mighty Nevado Huascarán (6,757 m), taken from Campo Santo in Yungay. The group of people in the foreground, carrying a coffin together, are standing exactly where, on 31 May 1970, the old town of Yungay was completely buried as a result of a severe earthquake and the subsequent massive mud and ice avalanche. In this natural disaster – the worst in Peru’s history – over 20,000 people in the town lost their lives. Today, the site is a national memorial designated as the Campo Santo (holy field) and also serves as a vast cemetery. – Peru – 1976

The photograph shows the landscape of rubble and debris below the glaciated Nevado Huascarán in the Cordillera Blanca in Peru, which was shaped by the massive avalanches and debris flows that followed the 1970 earthquake. In the background rise the snow-capped twin peaks of Huascarán, Peru’s highest mountain (6,768 m). In the foreground and on the plain, large boulders, masses of debris and sparse, low vegetation can be seen. – Peru – 1976

The photograph shows the picturesque Laguna Chinancocha (one of the Llanganuco Lakes) in Huascarán National Park in Peru’s Cordillera Blanca. The lake lies at an altitude of around 3,850 metres in the Áncash region, not far from the town of Huaraz. It is characterised by its intense, bright turquoise-green colour, fed by glacial meltwater and framed by steep mountain slopes and typical Andean flora (such as the gnarled queñua trees). – Peru – 1976

High above the small town of Yungay, which was buried by an ice avalanche in 1970, the Llanganuco high valley opens up in the Cordillera Blanca, featuring a lake dammed by a wall of rock and moraine. Towards the outside – towards the Callejón de Huaylas or Santatal – it transitions into a vast trough-shaped valley. - Book: Picture 99 - Peru - 1976

A weaver with her spindle makes yarn from sheep's wool. Mancos in the Callejón de Huaylas, Department of Ancash. - 1969

A vase-shaped ‘rumba ball’ filled with grains, featuring an anthropomorphic neck and two small monkeys perched on top. Santa pottery from the Huari period (height 21 cm). Museo Regional de Ancash, Huaraz, Peru. - Book: Picture 67 - Peru - 1976

The area around Patarcocha, in the Chacas district (Ancash region), within the famous Huascarán National Park, is world-renowned for having the densest populations of Puya raimondii. This rare plant belongs to the bromeliad family (Bromeliaceae) and is native to the high Andes of Peru and Bolivia; it is also known as the Queen of the Andes. It grows at extreme altitudes of between 3,500 and 4,500 metres in barren, sunny mountain steppes. The plant often lives for over 80 to 100 years, flowers only once in its lifetime with a gigantic inflorescence up to 10 metres high, and then dies. – Peru – 1977

The most striking plant of the humid Puna regions of Peru and Bolivia is the Puya raimondii, a giant bromeliad. This plant, which flowers only once before dying, develops a spike of bright green flowers up to eight metres high, pollinated by hummingbirds. This photograph of the plant, which has now become rare, was taken at an altitude of 4,200 metres in the area of Laguna de Patarccocha, Ancash Department, Peru. - Book: Picture 98 - Peru - 1976

Highland landscape (Puna) featuring the striking, snow-capped massif of Nevado Huantsán (6,395 m) in the southern part of the Cordillera Blanca in the Peruvian Andes, situated in the Áncash region. The barren plateau in the foreground, characterised by ichu grass, is typical of the Puna altitude zone between 3,800 and 4,000 metres. – Peru – 1976

Although the Shaqsha, at 5703 metres, is more than a thousand metres lower than Huascarán, it is nevertheless one of the most striking peaks of the ‘White Cordillera’ and poses the greatest challenges for mountaineers. - Book: Picture 97 - Peru - 1976

Sheep and goats cross the Río Mosna via a traditional, simple bridge made of tree trunks; the river flows right past the famous archaeological site of Chavín de Huántar. Chavín is one of Peru’s most important pre-Columbian cultures. – 1976

Chavín Culture, Peru. The huge temple complex near the village of Chavín de Huántar behind the Cordillera Blanca gave its name to a culture whose influence around 1000 BC can be traced over a wide area and in later cultural forms, so that it can be called with some justification the mother culture. Recurring motifs are the jaguar or a mixture of predator, snake and condor and warriors with predator teeth, condor claws and snake hair or hair with condor heads. Here the main portal to the temple complex with the large ceremonial square in the foreground. - 1976

The Portada de las Falcónidas (also known as the Black-and-White Portal) at the archaeological site of Chavín de Huántar in the Ancash region of Peru. It is the magnificent main entrance to the New Temple of the pre-Inca Chavín culture, which flourished between approximately 1500 and 300 BC. The portal is supported by two cylindrical stone columns engraved with complex mythological reliefs (falcon-like or bird-of-prey creatures). The name derives from the differently coloured stone blocks (black limestone and white granite) used in the architecture of this ceremonial area. – Peru – 1969

The heads of nails (Cabezas clavas) are a series of sculptures representing heads of cats, snakes and birds, combined with human features. They owe this name to the fact that they end like a nail in an extension, which meant that they could easily be embedded into the façade of the temple at symmetrical intervals. One theory assumes that they were the guardians of the temple. They were carved in sandstone of different consistency, quartzite and granite. Unfortunately, of the 56 who were there, only one is still on site. The others have disappeared or are kept in museums. - 1976

Chavín culture, Peru. The immense temple complex near the village of Chavín de Huántar, behind the Cordillera Blanca, where these relief slabs are found, gave its name to a culture whose influence can be traced over a wide area and in later cultural forms, so that it may, with some justification, be described as a ‘mother culture’. Recurring motifs include the jaguar or hybrid creatures combining big cats, snakes and condors, as well as warriors with predator’s teeth, condor’s talons and snake’s hair (this image) or hair adorned with condor heads. - Book: Picture 45 - Peru - 1976

Chavín culture, Peru. The immense temple complex near the village of Chavín de Huántar, behind the Cordillera Blanca, in which these relief slabs are found, gave its name to a culture whose influence can be traced over a wide area and in later cultural forms, so that it may, with some justification, be described as a ‘mother culture’. Recurring motifs include the jaguar (this image) or hybrid creatures combining a big cat, a snake and a condor, as well as warriors with predator’s teeth, condor’s talons and snake’s hair, or hair with condor’s heads. - Book: Picture 44 - Peru - 1976

As you drive from the coast towards Huaraz, this view of Caullaraju (5,682 m) rising above the vast pampa is the first major picture-postcard view of the Cordillera Blanca, a high mountain range in the Andes. Further to the right lies Laguna Conococha (from the Quechua words quñuq, meaning ‘warm’, and qucha, meaning ‘lake’ or ‘lagoon’, hence ‘warm lake’), which is considered the official source of the Río Santa. This river is one of the most water-rich and important rivers on the Peruvian Pacific coast. – Peru – 1969

Detail from the temple complex at Cerro Sechín in the Casma Valley on the Peruvian Pacific coast. The complex, comprising around ninety monolithic slabs—some of them enormous—is attributed to the Coastal Chavín style, although the reliefs bear little resemblance to other ancient Peruvian stone carvings and show greater similarities to the Mexican Monte Albán culture. The figures, depicted in profile, all face the main entrance to the temple. - Book: Picture 46 - Peru - 1976