Qutub Minar

There are several reasons why the 72.5-metre-high Qutub Minar has come to be known as Delhi’s enduring symbol. It is the world’s tallest brick tower and one of the finest specimens of Islamic craftsmanship as well. Situated in a lush green complex of monuments and ruins in the Mehrauli Archaeological Park, formerly called Qila Rai Pithora, this UNESCO World Heritage Site attracts around three million visitors annually. Indeed, very much like the city it symbolises, the Qutub Minar has not only stood the test of time for over 800 years but also weathered several design changes, repairs and reconstructions, lightning and earthquakes—even preservaThe Qutub Minar is a five-storeyed red sandstone tower built by Muslim conquerors in the thirteenth century to commemorate their final triumph over the Rajput rulers of Delhi, while also serving as a tower from where muezzins (criers) call for prayer at the Quwwatu'l-Islam mosque nearby. The minar (tower) is engraved with fine arabesque decorations on its surface, mainly verses from the Quran. Although reportedly based on the Minaret of Jam in Ghazni, western Afghanistan, Qutub Minar is far larger and more richly engraved with looped bells and garlands and lotus borders. Ibn Battuta, the famous fourteenth-century Moroccan traveller, a judge during the time of Mohammed Bin Tughlaq and a caretaker of the complex for a while, was awed by ‘. . . the minaret, which has no parallel in the lands of Islamtion efforts.