Qutub Minar - New Delhi - Helpful Travel Info

The Qutub Minar (or Qutab Minar) is a 73-meter high tower and is part of the Qutb complex, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Once in the large complex, make sure to see the following:

The Alai Darwaza, the Main Gate, and the first building in India to use Islamic architecture principles.

The Qutb Minar, the tallest brick minaret in the world.
It stands in the Qutb complex and is an example of early Afghan architecture, which later developed into Indo-Islamic Architecture.

The Qutb Minar is 5 stories and 72.5 meters tall and made from red sandstone and white marble.

Each story has a balcony and tapers up from a diameter of 14.3 meters at the base to 2.7 meters at the top.

Qutub Minar was Built after the Victory of the Hindu King in Delhi in 1192 AD and marked the beginning of Moghul rule in India.

The minar is made with superimposed flanged, cylindrical shafts in the interior, and fluted columns on the exterior, and surrounded by bands of intricate carving.

The Carving style is in the Kufic style of Islamic calligraphy

Visitors are not allowed to go up the Qutub Minar Tower.

Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque, the oldest surviving example of Ghurid architecture, was constructed by demolishing earlier buildings at and built atop a raised and paved courtyard,

It is surrounded by pillared cloisters with Arabic inscriptions and styles.

On the western side, you will see the arched screens in between. 

The ruins of the mosque still maintain some of its corbelled arches, floral motifs, and geometric patterns

The Iron pillar that dates from 375 to 414 AD is a curiosity. 

The iron pillar is 7.21-meters high and was placed in front of a Vishnu Temple complex. 

The estimated weight is 6,511 kg. 

No one actually knows why it was not removed when the Moghul rulers took over the complex area.

The tomb of Iltutmish, the second Sultan of Delhi, has the marble cenotaph placed in the center on a raised platform. 

The facade is known for its ornate carving.

The interior west wall has a prayer niche decorated with marble and Hindu motives blended into Islamic architecture.

Alauddin Khilji's Tomb and the Madrasa or (Muslim school)

You will find his tomb at the back of the Qutb complex, southwest of the mosque.

It stands in an L-shaped construction.

The central room of the building, which has his tomb, has now lost its dome through many rooms of the school that have been restored.

Alai Minar, an unfinished minar, was to be double the size of the Qutub Minar. 

Construction was abandoned after the completion of the 24.5-meter high first-story after the death of Alauddin in 1316 and was not continued by his successors.

Private Old and New Delhi Full-Day Tour including Qutub Minar - with Hotel Pick-up