Minaret Tower in Jam

In 2002, the Unesco Education, Science and Cultural Organization recognized the Minaret Tower in Jam of Afghanistan as a World Cultural Heritage.

Located at an altitude of 1,900 meters above sea level in a remote area, the tower grows between the rugged valley in the Ghur province of Afghanistan. This is an ancient and mysterious architecture that has appeared more than 800 years ago.

This tower is seen as a landmark marking the ancient land of the city of Firukuh, the Ghurid dynasty capital. This dynasty ruled Afghanistan and many parts of northern India, from Kashgar to the Persian Gulf in the 12th and 13th centuries. An inscription carved in the tower shows the time of construction of the tower in 1194, another inscription mentions the name of King Sultan Ghiyas ud-Din (1157-1202). It is thought that this tower was built to celebrate his victory - defeating the Ghaznavid empire in Delhi. So the tower is also known as Khai Hoan (Victory Tower).

From the perspective of artistic history, the architecture and decoration of the Minaret tower is truly outstanding. The combination of these elements has shown the characteristics of the previous period as well as greatly influenced the later architectural style of the territory here.

Surprisingly, this tower was forgotten for centuries until it was discovered by Thomas Holdich in 1886. However, the tower was forgotten again. The war in 1979 blocked all roads to this place, making very few people have the chance to know that "1-0-2 " wonder.

However, after that, the Afghan government focused on preserving this tower and the tower was preserved almost in its original state so that tourists had the opportunity to admire the creativity as well as the sophistication and skill in the technique. built that time. It is an extremely sophisticated fired brick project, with decorative motifs and scriptures about the Blessed Mother .

The tower is 65m high, built on an octagonal base. It has two wooden balconies, at the top is a light like a lighthouse. The four sections of the cylindrical cylindrical tower were built of fired bricks, bound together by mortar made from limestone. On the tiles outside the tower are beautiful geometric patterns. The lower part is also heavily decorated, it is divided into eight sections, corresponding to the eight sides of the base. Each section has a continuous carved word strip around.

The two Hari and Jam rivers are the cause of erosion, water leakage as well as flooding, which seriously affects the Minaret Tower.

Some stones with Hebrew letters are found in the Kushkak hill between the tower and Jam village. They are identified as appearing in the middle of the 11th century. The remains of the castle and the towers, where the Ghurid Empire's inhabitants settled, were also discovered on the other side of the Hari River , north of the tower, above the cliffs. Besides, there are traces of observation towers in the East. That makes people think that the tower is not only surrounded by residential areas but also military barracks.

Once discovered the tower began to degrade and was recognized by UNESCO in 2002 and 2005 as a tower of " dangerous " heritage of the world. The danger of stalking this heritage day by day is from the Hari River and the Jam River. These two rivers are the cause of erosion, water leakage and flooding. Besides, earthquakes also frequently occur here is also a great danger. The reason in Afghanistan is that people call the Minerat Tower as an inclined tower because after the effects of the town, this tower has not been able to stand upright as before.