Charminar meaning "Four Minarets" or "Four Towers" is the most famous and important monument in the city of Hyderabad, the capital of state of Andhra Pradesh.

This great monument is a synonym for Hyderabad and the foundation around which the glory and history of the city has developed. It is being so prominent that to imagine this 400-year-old city without Charminar is to imagine New York without the Statue of Liberty or Moscow without the Kremlin.

Sultan Muhammad Quli Qutub Shah, the 5th Qutub Shahi ruler built Charminar in 1591 shortly after he had shifted his capital from Golkonda to Hyderabad. Charminar is a squarish structure with four towers in the four corners of the square, each of whose sides is 20 metres in length. Every side opens into a plaza through giant arches, which overlook four major thoroughfares and dwarf other features of the building except the minarets. Each arch is 11 metres wide and rises 20 metres to the pinnacle from the plinth. The minarets soar skywards by 24 metres from the roof of Charminar. Each minaret has four storeys, each looking like a delicately carved ring around the minaret. Some Anglophiles call Charminar the Arc de Triomphe of the East. From the ground to the apex, the minarets cover a length of 48.7 metres.