Apr 16, 2009
Close view of the southern gate of the Qutb Minar enclosure, Delhi - 1875
Photograph of the southern gate of the Qutb Minar enclosure in Delhi from the Archaeological Survey of India Collections, taken by W. Caney in the 1870s. This is a close view of the ruined gateway leading to the Qutb Minar complex, which lies in the middle of the east side of the Lal Kot in southern Delhi. The Lal Kot is a citadel founded in 1060 by Anangpal of the Tomar Rajputs, and was the first city of Delhi. The complex contains some of the earliest surviving examples of Islamic architecture in India, built by the first Sultans of Delhi from the late 12th century onward. These include the Qutb Minar tower of victory, one of the most famous monuments in India begun by Qutb-ud-Din Aibak (r.1206-1210), the first Sultan of Delhi and founder of the Slave Dynasty, and continued by Shams-ud-Din Iltutmish (r.1211-1236); the Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque, the earliest surviving mosque in India, begun in 1193; and the Tomb of Iltutmish, (1236), the first surviving tomb of an Islamic ruler in India, among other monuments.