Asia
India
Delhi
Minaret
Qutb Minar
Name:Qutub Minar
Construction start of the minaret:1199
Commissioner of the minaret:Qutb ud Din Aibak
Height of the minaret:72.5 meters
Diameter of the minaret:approx. 14.3 meters at the base, approx. 2.7 meters at the top
Building materials of the minaret:mainly red and light sandstone
Number of visitors:approx. 3.4 million visitors per year
UNESCO World Heritage Site:since 1993

19 Fascinating Facts about Qutub Minar

 

  1. Location: Qutub Minar stands in Mehrauli, a historic district in the south of India’s capital, Delhi. It is part of the vast Qutub complex, a historic site with mosque remains, tombs, gateways and other monuments from the early Islamic period of northern India.
  2. Significance: Today, Qutub Minar is one of Delhi’s most famous landmarks and one of India’s most important historical attractions. At 72.5 meters, it is regarded as the tallest masonry tower in the country. For centuries, it shaped the city’s skyline and remained Delhi’s tallest building until 1976. With around 3.4 million visitors per year, Qutub Minar is one of India’s most visited historical sites, after the Taj Mahal in Agra and the Sun Temple of Konark.
  3. Before Islam: The Qutub complex was not built on an empty site, but in a place that had been politically and religiously important long before the minaret was constructed. Older centers of power in Delhi once stood in this area, with fortified settlements, rulers’ residences and sacred buildings. This is especially clear from the many architectural elements taken from earlier Hindu and Jain temples and later reused in the Quwwat ul Islam Mosque. Together with the much older Iron Pillar, the complex reveals how many layers of history meet at this site.
  4. Historical context: The construction of Qutub Minar took place during a period of profound political change in northern India. A decisive role was played by the Ghurids, a Muslim ruling dynasty from the mountainous region of Ghor in present day Afghanistan, who advanced into northern India in the 12th century. After their victory in the Second Battle of Tarain in 1192, they were able to consolidate their power in Delhi and lay the foundations for a new Muslim influenced political order. This led to the rise of the Delhi Sultanate in 1206, which shaped northern India for around 320 years, while the population remained religiously and culturally diverse. This era ended in 1526 with the First Battle of Panipat, when Babur defeated the last Lodi sultan and the age of Mughal rule began.
  5. Construction history: The construction history of today’s Qutub complex began in the late 12th century, when Qutb ud Din Aibak had the Quwwat ul Islam Mosque built after the conquest of Delhi. Soon afterwards, work also began on the minaret, which was significantly expanded under his successor Iltutmish. Over the following centuries, additional buildings were added, while later rulers repaired, enlarged and repeatedly used the complex to display their own power.
  6. Natural disasters: Over the centuries, the tower was damaged several times by lightning strikes and earthquakes, most severely during the earthquake of 1803. After major damage in the 14th century, Firuz Shah Tughlaq had the upper section rebuilt, giving the monument its present form with five storeys. Further restorations followed later, including work carried out by British engineers.
  7. Qutub complex: Today, the Qutub complex consists not only of the famous minaret, but of a vast ensemble of monuments with preserved buildings, ruins and architectural fragments. Particularly well preserved are the 72.5 meter high tower, the richly decorated Alai Darwaza as a monumental gateway and the Iron Pillar with its extraordinary resistance to rust. By contrast, the Quwwat ul Islam Mosque has survived only in part, so today visitors mainly see rows of columns, wall remains, arches and parts of the former prayer area. Remains of tombs, a madrasa, smaller mosque areas and the unfinished Alai Minar also show that the site once belonged to a much larger religious and political architectural complex.
  8. Mosque: The Quwwat ul Islam Mosque was once the religious center of the Qutub complex and consisted of an open courtyard, surrounding columned arcades and a prayer area on the western side. Qutub Minar rises close by and was probably also intended for the muezzin’s call to prayer, giving the complex its monumental impact to this day. Particularly impressive are the richly decorated pillars, capitals and stone fragments, many of which come from older Hindu and Jain temples.
  9. Qutub Minar: Qutub Minar is the most famous structure in the entire complex and rises 72.5 meters above the historic site. Construction of the tower began around 1199 under Qutb ud Din Aibak, while his successor Iltutmish had further storeys added. Its five storeys are divided by projecting balconies and decorated with vertical fluting, inscription bands, geometric patterns and floral ornaments. The inscriptions in Arabic and Naagari script are especially fascinating, as they document important construction phases, the rulers involved and later repairs.
  10. Iron Pillar: The Iron Pillar stands in the courtyard of the Quwwat ul Islam Mosque and is considerably older than the Islamic buildings of the Qutub complex. It was probably created during the Gupta period in the early 5th century and was originally dedicated as a religious votive pillar to Vishnu, one of the most important gods of Hinduism. The dark iron shaft is about 7.2 meters high and tapers from around 42 centimeters in diameter in the lower section to about 30 centimeters higher up. The pillar became famous because its wrought iron has shown exceptionally little rust for around 1,600 years. This is probably due to a naturally formed phosphate rich protective layer, which was able to develop over the centuries, partly because of Delhi’s relatively dry climate.
  11. Royal tomb: The Qutub complex also contains the tomb of Sultan Iltutmish, built in 1235 and counted among the early royal mausoleums of the Delhi Sultanate. From the outside, the sandstone structure appears rather restrained, but inside it surprises visitors with densely decorated walls, elaborate inscriptions, geometric patterns and delicate plant ornaments. Its special importance lies in the fact that it reveals an architectural form that later became increasingly significant in northern India, namely the representative Islamic ruler’s tomb. From such early mausoleums, a long tradition of magnificent funerary architecture developed, impressively combining architecture, religious symbolism and political memory.
  12. Alai Darwaza: The Alai Darwaza was built in 1311 under Sultan Alauddin Khalji and was intended as a magnificent entrance to the expanded Quwwat ul Islam Mosque. With its red sandstone, white marble, pointed arch entrances, delicate lattice windows and elaborate calligraphy, it is one of the most elegant buildings in the Qutub complex. The gateway is especially important because it is considered an early high point of Indo Islamic architecture in northern India and still shows how ambitiously Alauddin Khalji wanted to expand the site.
  13. Alai Minar: The Alai Minar was intended to become a powerful counterpart to the famous Qutub Minar and was begun under Sultan Alauddin Khalji. An even larger tower was planned, one that was meant to clearly surpass its 72.5 meter high model. After Alauddin’s death in 1316, however, the ambitious project remained unfinished, so today only a rough tower stump about 25 meters high stands in the Qutub complex.
  14. Smith’s cupola: In the 19th century, the damaged Qutub Minar was restored under the direction of the British engineer Major Robert Smith and fitted with an additional cupola around 1828. This pavilion like addition, however, looked out of place on the medieval tower and noticeably changed its original silhouette. In 1848, after about 20 years, the cupola was removed again and now stands separately to the east of Qutub Minar.
  15. Suicide: One of the darkest stories surrounding Qutub Minar is the fate of Rani Tara Devi, the former wife of the Maharaja of Kapurthala. After their separation, she lived in Delhi for a time and fell to her death from the tower in December 1946. The exact circumstances remain uncertain to this day, but her death added to the monument’s eerie reputation, as several suicides are said to have occurred there before.
  16. Stampede: Until 1981, visitors could still enter Qutub Minar and climb its narrow spiral staircase. On 4 December 1981, a serious disaster occurred when, according to reports, a power outage triggered panic and many people rushed toward the exit at the same time. 45 visitors died, including many schoolchildren, which is why access to the inside of the tower has been closed to the public ever since.
  17. Festival setting: During the Qutub Minar Festival, the historic site becomes an impressive stage for music, dance and light. Against the backdrop of the tower, artists perform classical Indian dances, concerts and spiritually inspired songs from South Asia. The festival usually takes place in November or December.
  18. Origin of the name: The name Qutub Minar is usually associated with Qutb ud Din Aibak, who had construction of the tower begun in 1199 and later went down in history as the first sultan of Delhi. Aibak came from a Turkic influenced environment in Central Asia, first entered military service as a slave and eventually rose to the top of the new sultanate rule in Delhi. He did not live to see the minaret completed, however, as he died in 1210, probably after an accident while playing polo. In the South Asian Islamic context, the word Minar means something like minaret or tower.
  19. UNESCO World Heritage Site: The Qutub Minar complex has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1993, making it one of India’s internationally recognized cultural sites. The designation refers not only to the famous tower, but to the entire monument area with mosque remains, gateways, tombs and other historic buildings. In this way, UNESCO recognizes the Qutub complex as an exceptional testimony to early sultanate architecture and the multilayered history of Delhi.
  • Säulenhalle der Quwwat ul Islam Moschee im Qutb Minar Komplex in Neu Delhi