Interesting facts about the Qutub Minar, the world's tallest brick minaret

Rising into the sky at Mehrauli in Delhi, the red and buff sandstone Qutub Minar has stood for more than 800 years. According to UNESCO, it is the tallest brick minaret in the world. Here are the most interesting facts about the Qutub Minar and its complex.

The Qutub Minar at a glance

Who built the Qutub Minar?

The Qutub Minar was completed not by one person but by several rulers:

• Qutb-ud-din Aibak: the first sultan of Delhi laid its foundation around 1199 and built the first storey.
• Iltutmish: Aibak's son-in-law and successor added three more storeys.
• Firoz Shah Tughlaq: when lightning damaged the top storey in 1368, he had it repaired and built the fifth storey, using more white marble.

There are two views about its name too — some historians believe it is named after Qutb-ud-din Aibak, others after the Sufi saint Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki.

The minaret's decoration

Each storey has a projecting balcony, and the walls are carved with fine designs and verses from the Quran. In the lower storeys, rounded and angular flutes alternate, making the minaret look taller and more graceful. The minaret also carries several inscriptions in Arabic and Nagari script, which tell the history of its building and repairs. The lower three storeys are mainly of red sandstone, while the upper storeys use both marble and sandstone, so the minaret's colour seems to change as it rises.

Did you know? The Iron Pillar in the Qutub complex, about 7 metres tall, is around 1,600 years old and bears an inscription of a king named "Chandra", believed to be the Gupta emperor Chandragupta II. Although it stands in the open, it has hardly rusted. According to a study by scientists at IIT Kanpur, its iron contains a high amount of phosphorus, which has formed a thin protective layer on its surface.

The other monuments of the Qutub complex

• Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque: among the oldest mosques in Delhi; according to its inscription, pillars and stones from older temples were used in it.
• Alai Darwaza: built by Alauddin Khalji in 1311; among the earliest examples of the true arch and dome in India.
• Alai Minar: Alauddin Khalji wanted a minaret twice as tall as the Qutub Minar, but after his death work stopped at the first storey. Its unfinished stump still stands.
• Tomb of Iltutmish: this finely carved tomb is also in the complex.

Why can't you go inside?

People used to be able to climb the stairs to the top of the minaret. But on 4 December 1981, after the lights went out inside, a stampede killed 45 people, most of them schoolchildren. Since then, going inside the minaret has been banned. Today visitors see it only from outside. Read about Delhi's other monuments in Interesting facts about Delhi and India Gate.

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