a India Rant and Raves: Charminar

India Rant and Raves

Globetrekker's life in India starting Oct 06 ... a first hand account ...

Saturday, February 03, 2007

Charminar


The beauty is in this place if you just stop and enjoy, truly.

Went over to Hyderabad a couple of weeks back and met a good mate there.

Charminar is a major landmark in Hyderabad and is 400 years old. Built by Mohammed Quli Qutub Shah in 1591, it was built to commerate the eradication of the plaque, shortly after he had shifted his capital from Golkonda to what now is known as Hyderabad.

Charminar is a squarish structure with four towers in the four corners of the square, each of whose sides is 20 metres in length. Every side opens into a plaza through giant arches, which overlook four major thoroughfares and dwarf other features of the building except the minarets. Each arch is 11 metres wide and rises 20 metres to the pinnacle from the plinth. The minarets soar skywards by 24 metres from the roof of Charminar. Each minaret has four storeys, each looking like a delicately carved ring around the minaret. Some Anglophiles call Charminar the Arc de Triomphe of the East. From the ground to the apex, the minarets cover a length of 48.7 metres.


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