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The Qutb Minar complex occupies Mehrauli in south Delhi, the site of Lal Kot, an earlier Hindu and Jain city. After Muhammad of Ghor's victory at Tarain (1192), his general Qutb al-Din Aibak established Delhi Sultanate power and began the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque (1192–1193) using spolia from demolished temples — visible in carved columns in the courtyard. The minar itself was started by Aibak and completed by Iltutmish and later rulers; the five-storey red sandstone and marble tower rises about 72.5 metres with projecting balconies.
The complex includes the Alai Darwaza gate (1311), Alai Minar (unfinished), the Iron Pillar of Chandragupta II (Gupta, 4th century CE, moved here), and tombs of Iltutmish and Imam Zamin. Earthquakes and lightning damaged upper storeys; Firoz Shah Tughlaq and the British restored sections in the 14th and 19th centuries.
UNESCO listed the Qutb Minar and its Monuments, Delhi in 1993 alongside Humayun's Tomb. The tower is the defining silhouette of early Sultanate Delhi and a mandatory stop on India's Golden Triangle route.