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Usually, a minar is attached to a mosque to call the faithful for prayers, but the Qutb Minar was designed as a victory memorial. Part of the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque, the first Islamic structure constructed in India by Qutb-ud-din Aibak in 1198, the Qutb Minar is 72.5 metres tall and its shaft has alternating round and triangular ribs. Aibak laid its foundation stone in 1199 but his son-in-law and successor Iltutmish added three storeys to it. There are 379 steps leading to the top of the minar but public access is barred after a stampede in 1981 killed 45 people, most of them school children.
Also see: A yen for India
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