Charminar

Hyderabad, India: Charminar

Charminar, (Urdu: “Four Minarets”) historic monument located at the heart of Hyderabad, west-central Telangana state, south-central India. The city, which is the capital of both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh states, was also the capital of the historic princely state of Hyderabad.

The monument was built in 1591 by Muḥammad Qulī Quṭb Shah, the fifth king of the Quṭb Shāhī dynasty, reportedly as the first building in Hyderabad, his new capital. Over the years, it has become a signature monument to and an iconic symbol of the city’s heritage. According to one legend, the Hyderabad region was reeling from a devastating plague at the time that Muḥammad Qulī Quṭb Shah was shifting his capital from nearby Golconda to the new city. He commemorated the end of the plague by building a mosque, which became known as Charminar because of its four towering and distinctive minarets, one on each of the building’s four corners. It formed the centrepiece around which Hyderabad was planned.

Now regarded as one of the supreme architectural achievements of the Quṭb Shāhī period, the Charminar is a grand architectural composition in Indo-Saracenic style. It is built of granite and lime mortar with stucco ornamentation. The square structure measures 66 feet (20 metres) to a side. Each side faces one of the cardinal directions and has a pointed arch that is 36 feet (11 metres) wide at the base and reaches 66 feet high at its apex. A multisided column rises on each corner of the structure and, atop a lotus-leaf base, continues upward until it culminates in a minaret with a dome-shaped roof 160 feet (49 metres) above the ground. Each minaret is accessed via a spiral staircase on its interior wall and consists of four levels, each of which features a delicately colonnaded covered walkway around the exterior wall. Above the arches of the main structure are two stories. The first was once used as a madrasah (Islamic college) in the Quṭb Shāhī era, and the second houses a small mosque. In addition to the mosque, the Charminar has 45 other prayer areas. The Charminar’s roof and minarets afford panoramic views of Hyderabad, notably the historic Golconda Fort to the west and the bustling Lad Bazaar—adjacent to the Charminar—which is famed for its traditional lacquer bangles studded with coloured glass and stones.