Qutub Minar

Qutub Minar stands in the Mehrauli area of south Delhi, in a complex of early Islamic monuments built on the site of older Hindu and Jain temples. Qutb ud-Din Aibak, the first ruler of the Delhi Sultanate, began the tower around 1199, and his successor Iltutmish added three more storeys.

The tower was damaged by lightning in the 14th century, and Firuz Shah Tughlaq rebuilt the top storey and added a fifth after a lightning strike in 1369, using white marble. Its name is usually linked to Qutb ud-Din Aibak, though some connect it with the Sufi saint Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki.

The minaret is about 72.5 metres high, tapering from about 14.3 metres across at the base to about 2.7 metres at the top. The five storeys are separated by projecting balconies, and the lower walls are carved with bands of Arabic inscriptions and decorative patterns. The lower three storeys are of red and buff sandstone.

Around it stand the ruins of the Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque, one of the earliest mosques in India, and the Alai Darwaza, a domed gateway added by Alauddin Khalji. The Iron Pillar in the courtyard, about 7.2 metres high and generally dated to the reign of the Gupta king Chandragupta II in the 5th century, is famous for its resistance to rust. The base of the Alai Minar, an unfinished tower planned to be twice the height, stands nearby. UNESCO listed the complex in 1993 as Qutb Minar and its Monuments.

The complex is run by the Archaeological Survey of India and is open daily from sunrise to sunset, with tickets online or at the gate at separate rates for Indian and foreign visitors. Visitors cannot climb the tower. Qutab Minar metro station on the Yellow Line is the nearest stop.

Why is climbing banned? A spiral staircase of 379 steps runs up inside the tower. On 4 December 1981 the staircase lighting failed and between 300 and 400 people rushed for the exit; 45 were killed, most of them schoolchildren, and the tower has been closed to visitors since. Construction began in 1199 and was largely finished by about 1220. The minaret leans just over 65 centimetres from the vertical.

The tower has been repaired many times. Sikandar Lodi restored it after an earthquake in 1505, and a stronger quake on 1 September 1803 caused serious damage. In 1828 Major Robert Smith of the British Indian Army repaired it and added a pillared cupola on top as a sixth storey. Governor-General Hardinge had the cupola taken down in 1848, and it now stands on the lawn east of the minar, where it is known as Smith's Folly. Inscriptions in Persian-Arabic and Nagari scripts record the building and later repairs by Firuz Shah Tughlaq and Sikandar Lodi. The Tomb of Iltutmish and the Tomb of Imam Zamin also stand inside the complex.