Qutub Minar

Qutb-ud-din Aibak, a former Ghurid slave-general who became the first Sultan of Delhi, began construction of the minar in 1192–93 to commemorate the establishment of Muslim rule in Delhi following the defeat of the Chauhan Rajput ruler Prithviraj III. Aibak completed only the first storey before his death in 1210; his son-in-law and successor, Iltutmish, extended the tower through three further storeys by around 1220, maintaining the red sandstone fluted design. The structure stands atop the site of Lal Kot, the earlier Rajput fortress of the Tomar and Chauhan dynasties, and the adjoining Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque — the earliest surviving mosque in India — was built using columns and material taken from an estimated 27 demolished Hindu and Jain temples, a fact recorded in Aibak's own Persian inscription on the mosque's eastern gate.

Firoz Shah Tughlaq rebuilt the tower's uppermost storeys in the 1370s after lightning strikes had damaged the marble-and-sandstone original top, replacing it with the current fourth and fifth storeys in a visibly different, unfluted style. A further lightning strike in 1803 damaged the cupola, which British engineer Major Robert Smith replaced in 1828 with a Bengali-style pavilion so incongruous with the Indo-Islamic tower beneath it that Governor-General Lord Hardinge ordered it removed in 1848; the displaced cupola, known as Smith's Folly, now sits on the lawn near the tower's base.

Alauddin Khalji, the most militarily ambitious of the Delhi Sultans, began construction around 1311 of the Alai Minar, intended to double the Qutub Minar's height and scale as a statement of his conquests. Only the rubble core of its first storey, roughly 25 metres tall, was completed before his death in 1316 halted the project permanently — it stands today as an unfinished stub a short walk from the main tower. UNESCO inscribed the Qutub Minar complex as a World Heritage Site in 1993.

Climbing inside the tower has been prohibited since 1981, when a stampede triggered by a power failure and subsequent panic on the unlit internal staircase killed 45 people, mostly schoolchildren, on the narrow spiral steps. All present-day visits are exterior-only, viewing the minar from the surrounding courtyard and park paths; anyone advertising 'tower climb access' near the site is not offering a legitimate ASI service.

The Mehrauli Archaeological Park extends well beyond the ticketed Qutub complex and is free to enter separately, containing dozens of lesser-known tombs and step-wells across a wooded 200-acre area — pairing the two in one visit means budgeting extra time and water, as shade is inconsistent and paths are unpaved in sections. Footwear with ankle support is worth prioritising given uneven medieval paving throughout both the ticketed complex and the wider park.

Licensed guides are available at the ticket counter for approximately ₹300–₹400 for a 60-minute walk; unlicensed guides sometimes approach visitors directly outside the ticket gate rather than working from the official kiosk.

Visit before 09:00 if possible. The complex has almost no tree cover across its open courtyards, and by mid-morning in summer the red sandstone radiates heat uncomfortably; the tower itself, however, photographs best in the raking side-light of early morning or the last hour before closing.

The calligraphy bands on the lowest storey are legible at close range with binoculars or a telephoto lens — most visitors miss that the inscriptions are specific Quranic verses rather than generic ornamental script, and a guide or a pre-read on the mosque's own foundation inscription adds considerably more than a passing glance.

Combine the visit with Mehrauli's other Islamic-era sites within a short walk or auto ride: Jamali Kamali Mosque and tomb, Adham Khan's tomb, and the Rajon ki Baoli step-well all sit within the wider archaeological park and rarely appear on standard itineraries, meaning they are near-empty even when the main Qutub complex is crowded. The Metro's Yellow Line connects directly to both Chandni Chowk and Hauz Khas, making Qutub Minar an efficient bookend to a south Delhi day rather than a standalone half-day trip.