Kalyan Minaret

The Kalyan Minaret (Uzbek, Minorai Kalon, Persian/Tajik: Minâra-i Kalân, Kalon Minor, Kalon Minaret) is a minaret of the Po-i-Kalyan mosque complex in Bukhara, Uzbekistan and one of the most prominent landmarks in the city. The minaret, designed by Bako, was built on an earlier existing structure called Kalyan by the Qarakhanid ruler Mohammad Arslan Khan in 1127 to summon Muslims to prayer five times a day. An earlier tower was collapsed before starting this structure which was called Kalyan, meaning welfare, indicating a Buddhist or zoroasterian past. It is made in the form of a circular-pillar baked brick tower, narrowing upwards. It is 45.6 metres (150 feet) high (48 metres including the point), of 9 metres (30 feet) diameter at the bottom and 6 metres (20 feet) overhead. There is a brick spiral staircase that twists up inside around the pillar to the rotunda. The tower base has narrow ornamental strings belted across it made of bricks which are placed in both straight or diagonal fashion. The frieze is covered with a blue glaze with inscriptions. In times of war, warriors used the minaret as a watchtower to lookout for enemies. About a hundred years after its construction, the tower so impressed Genghis Khan that he ordered it to be spared when all around was destroyed by his men. It is also known as the Tower of Death, because until as recently as the ear

Building data from Wikidata (CC0); heights normalised. Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).