This may be found in a quadrangular area with two adjacent rooms. The sacred rock measures 3 meters high by 7 meters at the base, and has a pedestal 30 centimeters high.
It is shaped like a feline, and apparently had a ritual purpose. Going down the stairway to the northeast of the most northerly Intiwatana of Machu Picchu, may be found the Sacred Complex. This is a small complex with two very similar wayranas , one in front of the other, with walls of the pirka type. They served as temples or altars for worship. The Sacred Monolith stands on a stone pedestal, with a relatively smooth surface, which may have originally been polished as smoothly as the boulders of Ollantaytambo, although time and weatherbeating could account for the loss of its original shape and polish.

In the Inca religion, there was a belief that the mountains were, or contained, apus (higher spirits), considered to be protectors, to the extent that even today there are some local ceremonies to worship the mountains. Many scholars think that the Sacred Complex simply formed a symbolic representation of the mountains, to the point that even in the stone representing the feline "Puma god" can be seen the profile of the mountains around Machu Picchu.
To the north of this complex is the track leading to Huayna Picchu and to the southeast is the Main Plaza of the city.