Firoz Minar (also known as Firuz Minar) (''English'': Tower of Firoz/Firuz) is a five-storeyed tower situated at Gaur,

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

, India. It was built by Sultan

Saifuddin Firuz Shah Malik Andil Habshi ( bn, মালিক আন্দিল হাবশী), better known by his regnal title Saifuddin Firuz Shah ( bn, সাইফউদ্দীন ফিরুজ শাহ, fa, ) was the second "Habshi" ruler of the Benga ...

of the

Habshi dynasty Habshi dynasty refers to the rule of Ethiopian Abyssinian rulers in Bengal that lasted from 1487 to 1493 or 1494 during the Bengal Sultanate. Four Habshi rulers ruled Bengal during this period. This rule began with the rebellion against and as ...

between 1485 and 1489. It was built in the Tughlaqi style of architecture. Although the first three storeys are

dodecagon In geometry, a dodecagon or 12-gon is any twelve-sided polygon. Regular dodecagon A regular dodecagon is a figure with sides of the same length and internal angles of the same size. It has twelve lines of reflective symmetry and rotational sym ...

al, the final two are circular in shape.

Location

Inscription from Gaur in the British Museum

Firoz Minor is located one kilometre away from the Dakhil Darwaza at the city of Gaur. Gaur is at a distance of from the city of Malda and is situated at the

Malda district Malda district, also spelt Maldah or Maldaha (, , often ), is a district in West Bengal, India. It lies 347 km (215 miles) north of Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal. Mango, jute and silk are the most notable products of this district. ...

in the Indian state of

History

The minar was built by Sultan

of the

. The construction started in 1485 and ended in 1489. Colloquially, the tower is referred as Pir Asa Mandir and Chiragh Dani. The tower also commemorates Firuz Shah's victories in the battlefield. According to tradition, Firuz Shah threw the chief architect from the topmost storey as he was not satisfied with the minar's height and wanted it to be taller.

Architecture

The minar resembles the

Qutb Minar The Qutb Minar, also spelled Qutub Minar and Qutab Minar, is a minaret and "victory tower" that forms part of the Qutb complex, which lies at the site of Delhi’s oldest fortified city, Lal Kot, founded by the Tomar Rajputs. It is a UNESCO Worl ...

of Delhi. Firoz Minar is five storeyed structure. The first three stories are

al while the next two are circular in shape. The tower is high and its circumference is . A spiral 73 step staircase leads to its top. Although there was a dome at the topmost storey, it was replaced by a flat roof due to restoration work. The minar is built in Tughlaqi architecture and there are

terracotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based ceramic glaze, unglazed or glazed ceramic where the pottery firing, fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, a ...

works on its walls. The tower sits on top of a masonry plinth.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Firoz Minar Buildings and structures completed in 1489 Architecture of the Bengal Sultanate Minarets in India