The highest stone tower in India, the Qutub Minar was built by Qutbuddin Aibak, the viceroy of Mohammed Ghori in 1192. It was built to celebrate Ghori's victory over the Rajputs. The tower and the victory are very significant, because both heralded the birth of a new dynasty - Slave Dynasty. And it laid the foundations of the Delhi Sultanate. And the rest, as one would put it after witnessing this monumental tower, was history.
The Minar is a five-storey building with a height of 72.5 metres. The first storey of the Qutb Minar was completed in the lifetime of Qutbuddin. His son-in-law and successor, Iltumush, added the next three storeys.
Within the complex, is the famous Iron Pillar which has stood for millennia without rusting, Quwwat-ul-Islam, the first mosque built in India, and the Alai Darwaza, the gateway to the complex erected by Alauddin Khilji. The entry to the Minar has been closed, after the tower became infamous for the several suicides that were committed here.
Qutb Minar is a successful tribute to architecture, as it captures one's attention by its sheer mass appeal. Even on close encounter, the attention lingers, owing to the delicate and almost ethereal carvings.
Address: Mehrauli, Delhi-Gurgaon Road
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The buildings in this complex, 15 km south of Delhi, date from the onset of Muslim rule in India and are fine examples of early Afghan architecture. The Qutab Minar itself is a soaring tower of victory which was started in 1193, immediately after the defeat of the last Hindu kingdom in Delhi. It is nearly 73 metres high and tapers from a 15-metre diameter base to just 2.5 metres at the stop. The tower has five distances stories, each market by a projecting balcony. The first three storeys are made of red sandstone. the fourth and fifth of marble and sandstone.  Although Qutab-ud-din began construction of the tower, he only got to the first story. 
Today, this impressively ornate tower has a slight tilt, but otherwise has worn the centuries remarkably well. The tower is closed to visitors. and has been for some years after a stampede during a school trip led to a number of deaths.