During the Middle Horizon (ca. A.D. 500-1000) the Tiwanaku culture and supposed empire dominated an area of more than 360,000 km² on the South Central Andes including: Titicaca Lake basin, Northern Chilean valleys, Cochabamba, Moquegua valley, and into the San Pedro de Atacama oasis to the Southwest.

Main attraction is of course the ancient city, which arises on the Southern shore of Lake Titicaca, on an altitude of about 13000 feet (3.885 meters) above sealevel.

The name for both the culture as the city is delivered to us by the Inka, who found the city in (date) in ruins. They called it Tiwanaku, meaning Great Columns in the Quechua language.

image: Die Ruinen von Tiwanaku, Bolivien von Wolfgang Stiem (German site)