India Guide
Andhra Pradesh
Charminar
A maze of bazaars teeming with people, the old city has at its heart the Charminar, or Four Towers, a triumphal arch built at the centre of Mohammed Quli Shah's city in 1591 to commemorate an epidemic. As its name suggests, it features four graceful minarets, each 56m high, housing spiral staircases to the upper storeys. The (now defunct) mosque on the roof is the oldest in Hyderabad; it was built to teach the royal children the Koran. The yellowish colour of the building is due to a special stucco made of marble powder, gram and egg yolk.