City of Vilcabamba
City of Vilcabamba is the second level in Tomb Raider. Lara Croft has finally reached the lost city after travelling through the perilous Caves, seeking the Tomb of Qualopec in Peru.
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Original Version
Vilcabamba is essentially a collection of dwellings built into the cave floor and roof, with a central pool as a water supply. Now deserted, the only inhabitants are various wild creatures that live among the ruins. Lara can explore these areas to find several objects to continue her journey.
A second area consists of a temple-like structure, with three doors set into one wall. The two doors openings at the left and right access tall side towers, from which levers open the door in the middle at ground level. Inside is a long room with another central pool and colonnades at both sides, where Lara can exit the level into the next, the Lost Valley.
Anniversary Version
In Anniversary the approach to Vilcabamba is changed significantly. Rather than first arriving in the city itself, the player must first pass through a decorated passageway and then down a mountainous track. The 'city' is much reduced, featuring only a few small stone huts as well as the original central pool, which is fed by a waterfall from inside the mountain.
Once access has been gained to the temple area, the similarity with both the original and Anniversary's version is striking, with the side towers and temple structure. However, the long room with the colonnades does not feature, with a passage leading straight to the Lost Valley.
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Notes
Vilcabamba and the myth surrounding it was and is a real-life location. Built as the last refuge of the Incan people from the invading Spaniards by Manco Inca, it was finally conquered in 1572.
Vilcabamba became a legend, an unidentified location of a long gone culture. In 1909 American archaeologist Hiram Bingham re-discovered the ruins but paid little attention to them, preferring instead to concentrate on the ruins at Machu Picchu (also re-discovered by him) as the original 'Lost City of the Incas'.
It was only in the 1970s that the area known as Espiritu Pampa was excavated and claimed as the site of Vilcabamba. Credit is generally given to Professor Edmundo Guillen and Polish explorers Tony Halik and Elżbieta Dzikowska who excavated the area. Before setting out on the expedition however, they found letters in a museum in Seville, Spain by Spanish soldiers describing the progress of the invasion and what was found in Vilcabamba. These letters significantly assisted the excavations.
Vilcabamba is in actuality located in a rainforest, not inside a mountain. In the Tomb Raider universe, it is clear that Vilcabamba was never found until Lara Croft re-discovered it.
