Charminar

In News 

• The Archeological Survey of India is taking steps to make the wiring discreet and light up Charminar  in a better way.
  • The improved system will also make the 430-year-old monument in Hyderabad more accessible with better lighting inside the minarets that take visitors to the upper storey.

Image Courtesy: TOI

About 

• Charminar, (Urdu: “Four Minarets”) historic monument located at the heart of Hyderabad in south-central India. 
•  It was built in 1591 by Mohammed Quli Qutub Shah, who was the fifth king of the Qutub Shahi dynasty, to mark the founding of Hyderabad and the end of a plague that had devastated the city.
• The Charminar has been built in the Indo-Saracenic style of architecture. The materials used are granite and lime mortar.
• Description: 

• The 56-m-high Charminar is an imposing four-sided archway with four minarets soaring above its surrounding bustling market area.
  • Each side of the structure faces a cardinal direction and has a pointed arch. These arches support a gallery of archways and two floors of rooms. 
• The square structure of the monument measures about 20 m to a side and at each corner is a minaret that rises to a height of 24 m.
•  Each of the four minarets (leading to the structure’s name Charminar or four minarets) houses 149 circular steps.
• The first floor of the monument was used as a madarasa (college) during the Qutub Shahi times. The second floor houses a mosque, which is the oldest mosque in the city, on its western side. 

Source: TH