History / location / significance / architecture / room / structure / construction / photography / photo gallery / travel tips / guide / map / tourist attraction of Charminar , Hyderabad , Andhra Pradesh , India
Importance : Landmark of the city of Hyderabad Best Season/ time / when to visit Charminar : June - March , Timings : Open Weekdays 0900 to 1700; Saturdays: 0900 to 1700
Standing regally in the center of the crowded old city, is the Charminar the enormous but graceful arch, a masterwork of Qutub Shahi architecture. It is positioned amidst the colorful shops of Lad Bazaar / Choodi Bazaar with its sparkling traditional bangles, pearls and nuptial ware in the old city. Distinctive to Hyderabad, this square structure has superb stucco adornment, four tall minarets along with a mosque on the top floor. This magnificent monument was erected, as the myth goes, by Sultan Muhammed Quli Qutub Shah in honor of his Hindu Wife, Bhagmati, amid 1591AD and 1612 AD, almost immediately after he transferred his capital from Golconda to Hyderabad.
Constructed upon four grand arches which face the four directions with its lofty slim minarets and spiral staircases, the structure replicates the brilliance of the Qutub Shahi dynasty.
Habitually called The Arc de triomphe of the East, Charminar acquires
its name from its four elegantly carved minarets factually meaning 'Four
(char) Pillars (minars)'. The design is supposed to be based on Shia
tazias constructed in tribute of Hussain, the son in law of Prophet
Mohammad. The colossal square structure, put up exclusively of granite
and lime mortar positioned on a square base and open up to four
directions all the way through grand arches. Every arch is 11 meters
wide and goes up 20 meters to the apex from the plinth. The clocks on
top of each of the four archways were supplemented in 1889. These arches
hold up two floors of rooms along with gallery of archways. The
structure placed in an intersection and the arches overlook four main
thoroughfares.
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