Qutub Minar is the world famous, red sandstone and marble tower known as tower of victory. Qutub Minar is the tallest brick minaret in the world, and an example of Indo-Islamic Architecture.

The word 'Qutab Minar' means 'axis minaret'. The tower which dominates the countryside for miles around has five storeys, each marked by a projecting balcony.

The tower was built in three stages. Qutab-ud-Din completed the first storey. Second, third and the fourth were completed by his successor and son-in -law, Illtutmish in 1230. The Minar was first struck by lightening in AD 1368 and the fallen top storey was replaced by two stories, the fourth and the fifth in 1370 AD by Feroz Shah Tughlaq (AD 1351-88).

Qutub Minar is 72.5 (237.8 feet) meters in height. It requires 399 steps to get to the top. The diameter of the base is 14.3 meters wide while the top floor measures 2.75 meters in diameter.

The king Qutubuddin Aibak of Slave dynasty laid the foundation of the Qutub Minar in 1199. Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque is adjoining building to proclaim the victory of Islam, after the defeat of the last Hindu kingdom in Delhi.

It was the Afghan, Muhammad of Ghur who ousted the last Hindu king Prithviraj Chauhan in AD 1192, but he returned to his country leaving Qutbuddin Aibak as his viceroy. In 1206, on his master's death, Aibak crowned himself as the Sultan of Delhi.

The Qutub Minar complex has a number of other important monuments, the gateway built in 1310, the Alai Darwaza, Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque; one of the oldest existing mosques in India, the tombs of Altamish, Alauddin Khalji and Imam Zamin, the 2000 year old 7m high Iron Pillar- the Alai Minar; another tower 27m high, the Madrasa or School, great screen of Qutbuddin Aibak in the mosque etc.