13.6167°S, 71.7147°W.
Pikillaqta is a planned Wari administrative city southeast of Cusco in the Peruvian highlands, built between approximately 550 and 1100 CE during the Wari empire's expansion into the Lucre Basin. The site covers about 50 hectares and is laid out on a strict orthogonal plan of high-walled rectangular compounds — the most complete surviving example of Wari urban planning. Walls of fieldstone and mudbrick were originally faced with white plaster, traces of which still cling to protected interior corners. Excavations by Gordon McEwan since 1978 identified storage cells, large halls, and ceremonial precincts including a series of small turquoise figurine offerings interpreted as foundation deposits. The compound walls reach 12 metres in height in places and are still standing along most of the original layout. Pikillaqta was apparently never fully completed; entire sectors show construction halted mid-phase.
The rows of unroofed compounds cover the slope below the modern Cusco-Puno highway.