Place · Delhi Sultanate mosque · India
Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque
The 'Might of Islam' Mosque, the first congregational mosque built in Delhi after Qutb-ud-din Aibak's 1192 conquest, raised 1193-1197 within the Qila Rai Pithora walls on the site of 27 demolished Hindu and Jain temples. The reused temple columns, with their mismatched capitals and surface carving, are visible in the mosque's courtyard — the medieval 'spolia' practice of repurposing conquered material. Iltutmish extended the mosque in 1230 with a double iwan and the Quranic Kufic bands, and Alauddin Khilji further expanded it in 1310 with the uncompleted Alai Minar nearby. The mosque courtyard preserves the 4th-century Gupta iron pillar of Chandragupta II (moved here from Udayagiri Vidisha by Anangpal II of the Tomars) — a Hindu Vaishnava trophy in the courtyard of the first Delhi mosque. UNESCO 1993.
- Function
- Religious institution & practice
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 28.524, 77.186
Connections (1)
- Site withinDelhi
Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque lies within Delhi — the two sites sit about 10 km apart, well inside the city's historical boundary and part of the same urban or peri-urban landscape. Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque is one of the specific sites that give Delhi its layered character, and reads differently when seen as a stop within the larger city rather than as an isolated monument on an open map. The surrounding neighbourhoods, roads and other heritage ensembles belong to the same single urban fabric.
On these journeys
Sources
Wikipedia, “Qutb Minar complex”. Archaeological Survey of India and State Archaeology monument records, and the standard regional literature.
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