FIROZE MINAR
FIROZE MINAR Firoze Minar, also known as Firuza or Firuz Minar is situated in the historic city of Gaur, Malda district, West Bengal.
It one of the most famous of the surviving monuments of Bengal built according to an inscription by Saifuddin Firuz Shah (1488-90 AD), the second ruler of the Abbyssinian Slave dynasty. Built in brick, 26m high with a base diameter of 6m, it stands outside the citadel of gaur as its eastern side on the north-eastern edge of a large mound that is probably the site of the mosque to which it was once attached. The minar thus resembles the Qutb Minar at Delhi, India, being a majana, and at the same time a victory tower proclaiming the victory and glory of the sultan and of the religion to which he and the community belonged.
The position of the minar in the centre of the city suggests that it must have been a place for assemblaze, that is to say, a central esplanade for spending time and enjoying the city view from its top. The minar is five storeys in hight, the three lower storeys are twelve sided, and the upper storeys are separated by a dripstone, becoming less and less large in diameter. The last storey, which no longer exists, was originally an open pavilion covered by a dome. While the rounded portion of the minar is marked off from the lower part by the dripstone, all the twelve-sided storeys are separated from each other by horizontal stone string mouldings.