Minarets of Ghazni
منارههای غزنیTwelfth-century minarets of the Ghaznavid capital
Ghazni, on the road between Kabul and Kandahar, was the capital of the Ghaznavid sultans, who in the eleventh and twelfth centuries ruled an empire stretching from Iran to northern India. Its most famous ruler, Mahmud of Ghazni, made it a brilliant court where Ferdowsi is said to have presented the Shahnameh. Two tall minarets survive from the city of his successors, standing apart on the plain outside the modern town.
Inscriptions identify them with two later Ghaznavid sultans, Masud III and Bahram Shah, in the early twelfth century. Each is now only the lower part of a much taller tower: a shaft whose plan is a star of eight points, built of fired brick and covered with dense panels of patterned and carved brick and terracotta, including bands of inscription. The cylindrical upper stages that once rose above them have collapsed.
Scholars think the minarets may have been free-standing victory towers rather than parts of mosques, though this is debated. They are sometimes compared with the later Minaret of Jam, built by the Ghurids who sacked Ghazni in the mid-twelfth century. Today, capped with protective roofs against the weather, they stand as emblems of the city, and visitors can see the fine detail of the brickwork at close range.