Qutab Minar
New Delhi, India 2006
The superb buildings in this complex date from the onset of Muslim rule in India.
a World Heritage site
The Qutab Minar itself is a soaring
73meter (240foot) high tower of victory that was started in 1193,
immediately after the defeat of the last Hindu kingdom in Delhi.
At its base is Quwwat-ul-Islam Masjid (Might of Islam Mosque), India’s first.
Muslim graves
inside dome
The tower has five distinct storeys, each marked by a projecting balcony, and it
tapers, like something out of a fairy tale, from a 15 meter (50ft) diameter at
the base to just 2.5m (8ft) at the top.
The first three storeys are made of red sandstone, he fourth and fifth storeys of marble and sandstone.
inscription on the tower
The stairs inside the tower coil so steeply that they’re enough to make the hardiest climber dizzy and claustrophobic, and it was no surprise when a stampede during a school trip in 1979 resulted in a number of deaths. The inside of the tower has since been closed to visitors.
columns from the former Hindu temples
An inscription over the mosque’s eastern gate provocatively informs that it was
built with material obtained from demolishing 27 idolatrous (read Hindu)
temples.
A 7 meter (23 foot) high iron
pillar stands in the courtyard of the mosque and it’s said that if you can
encircle it with your hands whilst standing with your back to it, your wish will
be fulfilled; however, the pillar is now protected by a fence.
Tomb of Imam Zamin
Tomb of Imam Zamin
