High Middle Ages · South Asia · Culture
1206
Qutb Minar construction begins in Delhi
1206
Qutb-ud-din Aibak ordered the building of a red sandstone victory tower next to the new Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque, itself built on the rubble of Hindu and Jain temples. At seventy-three meters when finally completed, the minaret would loom over Delhi as a monument to conquest. Its five tapered stories, each carved in different geometric patterns, remain the tallest brick minaret in the world.