Asia - India - South Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad :-> 'CHARMINAR'

--
The Charminar is as much the signature of Hyderabad as the Taj Mahal
is of Agra or the Eiffel Tower is of Paris.
It is a magnificent square edifice of granite, built upon four grand
arches facing North, South, East and West. These arches support two
floors of rooms and gallery of archways. At each corner of the square
structure is aminaret rising to a height of 24 meters, making the
building nearly 54 meters tall. It is these four (char) minarets
(minar) that give the building, its name Charminar. Each minar stands
on a lotus-leaf base, a special recurrent motif in Qutub Shahi
buildings.
The first floor was used as a madarasa (college) during the Qutub
Shahi period. The second floor has a mosque on the western side, the
dome of which is visible from the road, if one stands some distance
away. A spectacular view of the city may be had from the roof of the
Charminar, although, due to severe overcrowding of the minarets, only
visitors with special permission from the Archaeological Survey of
India, HyderabadCircle are allowed to go to the top of the minarets.
The clocks above each of the four archways were added in 1889./ - - -
- - - - - - -