Qutb Minar and its Monuments, Delhi

The red sandstone shaft of the Qutb Minar rises 72.5 metres above southern Delhi, its alternating angular and rounded flutings tapering skyward since the early 13th century. Around it cluster the Quwwatu'l-Islam mosque — northern India's oldest, assembled from the materials of some twenty demolished temples — and the Alai-Darwaza Gate of 1311, a masterpiece of Indo-Muslim art. The ensemble was inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage in 1993.