Machu Picchu grown rapidly. In 1912, 1914 and 1915, Bingham removed thousands of artifacts from Machu Picchu—ceramic vessels, silver statues, jewelry and human bones—and took them to Yale University for further study, supposedly for 18 months. Yale instead kept the artifacts until 2012, arguing that Peru lacked the infrastructure and systems to care for them. Eliane Karp, an anthropologist and wife of former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo, accused Yale of profiting from Peru's cultural heritage. Many of the articles were exhibited at Yale's Peabody Museum. In 2006, Yale returned some pieces but kept the rest, claiming this was supported by federal case
Machu Picchu was featured prominently in the film "The Motorcycle Diaries" (2004), a biopic based on the 1952 youthful travel memoir of Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara. The "NOVA" television documentary "Ghosts of Machu Picchu" presents an elaborate documentary on the mysteries of Machu Picchu. Contemporary multimedia artist Kimsooja used Macchu Picchu as the primary setting for the first episode of her film series "Thread Routes", shot in 2010. The song "Kilimanjaro", from the South Indian Tamil film "Enthiran" (2010), was filmed in Machu Picchu. The sanction for filming was granted only after direct intervention from the Indian government. Machu Picchu is visitable