Qutub Minar – Delhi

Qutub Minar is a big stone pillar. It’s also on the original site of the town of Delhi. All the tourist guides will tell you that Delhi is a city that was rebuilt six times on different sites that were all very close to each other. This site is the earliest. The tower itself is an imposing 210 feet high and is part of a complex built by the Muslim invaders that defeated the armies of the Hindu kingdom in the late 10th century. One interesting part of the site is an iron pillar that has been dated at around 400 AD. The significant thing abut the iron pillar is that no one has been able to figure out how it was cast at such an early stage in metallurgy or why there is no rust on the pillar. It is also said that the hugging the iron pillar can make wishes come true. True to government form, they’ve erected a barrier so that no one can get close enough to the pillar to hug it. The site is a UNESCO World Heritage site and shouldn’t be missed.