A New York advertising agency shooting a beer commerical succeeded in damaging a cultural jewel in Peru.
The crew were filming among the spectacular ruins of Machu Picchu, the citadel of the Incas high up in the Andes, when a camera crane fell onto a granite block and chipped off a 700mm by 500mm section. But this was not just any lump of rock – it was the Intihuatana, a 500-year-old sun dial of special significance for the sun worshipping Incas. It was being used as a bar for the beer commercial.
Though the damage is, according to reports, easily repaired, the crane accident has heightened controversy about the commercial exploitation of the heritage site.
