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Charminar Golconda Fort Mecca Masjid Nehru Zoological Park        

Charminar

 
Charminar is located at the center of the old city and surround by lively bazaars. It was built by Sultan Mohammed Quli Qutb Shah in 1591 in honour of his wife Bhagmati, shortly after he had shifted his capital from Golconda to what now is known as Hyderabad. It is popular as the Arc de Triomphe of the East and considered as the legendary masterpiece of Qutub Shahi's. Charming structure define as its name from four intricately carved minarets, the four graceful minarets which means 'Four Minars'. Charminar is in square shape with four towers in the four corners of the square, each side is 20 metres long. 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. From the ground to the apex, the minarets cover a length of 48.7 metres.

Golconda Fort

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Golconda Fort is one of the most wonderful monuments, located 11 km. from Hyderabad, the capital of Andhra Pradesh. The name of Golconda originates from the telgu words "Golla" and "Konda" which means 'shepard's hill'. One of the most important features of this fort is that the sounds of hands clapped at the entry gate can be heard quite clearly at the top of the hill. One of the most interesting look of Golconda Fort is its system of acoustics. The sounds of hands clapped at the entry gate can be heard clearly at 'Bala Hissar', the highest point, a kilometre away, palaces, factories, water supply system and the famous 'Rahban' cannon, that was used during the last seize of Golconda by Aurangazeb, to whom the fort ultimately fell.

You can see two separate pavilions in outside of Golconda Fort, built on a rocky prominence the Taramathi Gana Mandir and the Premathi Nritya Mandir, both the legendary sisters Taramathi and Premamathi resided. Both gave their performance on a circular dais atop a two-storied structure, the Kala Mandir, which was visible from the king's durbar (king's court) on top of the Golconda Fort.

Mecca Masjid

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Mecca Masjid is the oldest and the biggest of the mosques situated in Hyderabad city. About 10,000 people can offer prayers in this mosque at a time. It is said that Mohammad Quli Qutub Shah began the construction of the Masjid in 1617 but the Mughal Emperor Aurangazeb completed the construction in 1694. The Mecca Masjid of Hyderabad is located just 100 yards away from the famous and historic Charminar.

The name of the mosque has an interesting short story behind it. It is believed that some bricks were brought from Mecca and inserted in the walls of its main arch. Hence it came to be known as Mecca Masjid. There are fifteen arches that support the hall of the mosque. Three walls of the great hall have five arches each. This huge hall is 75 feet high, 220 feet wide and 180 feet long. No wonder it can accommodate about 10,000 people at a time during worship. It is said that about 8000 workers had been employed to construct this grand mosque. The mosque took 77 years to be completed.

Nehru Zoological Park

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Nehru Zoological Park, Hyderabad was established on 26 October 1959 with a view to develop a Modern Zoo with simulated natural environment. It is located at about 16 kms from the Hyderabad Bus stand. It is spread across 300 acres of lush green land which is one biggest zoo in the country. In this zoo, there are about 1,500 different kinds of animals are present. Other attraction in the park is that a lion safari park is located in the park. It is recommended must see sight. In this park there is also a natural history museum and a children park. It is the premier picnic spot of the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad. The Nehru Zoological Park which was declared open to the public on 6th October 1963 has bred some notable exotic and indigenous animals and birds like the Indian Rhino, Asiatic Lion, Tiger, Panther, Giraffe and Gaur etc., a number of Deer and Antelopes. In fact, animals bred in the Zoo have been distributed to various Deer parks and also sanctuaries for restoring the depleted animals.