Qutb Minar was built near the end of the 12th century in Mehrauli, as part of a religious complex of temples, monuments which was contributed to by several generations of Delhi’s rulers, but it has yet to be ousted from its superlative position as the world’s tallest brick minaret. At 72.5 metres high, it seems to teeter precariously over the rest of the surrounding UNESCO World Heritage Site, but the base is in fact almost fifteen metres wide – a mighty structure built to withstand nearly ten centuries of weather and visitors (so far). Historians have guessed that it may have been built in honour of the Turkish Sultan, Qutb-ud-din Aibak, and not simply to call the faithful to prayer.

Although it is now closed to visitors in order to prolong its many years of stability further, the surrounding complex an still be explored, and contains the Alai Minar (a second project of even more ambitious dimensions which was eventually abandoned), the Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque, also built in the 12th century from pieces of the Hindu and Jain temples which preceded it, and an inscribed, seven-metre iron pillar, said to have been designed for use as an astronomical instrument.

Written by  larapiegeler.

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