Kutlug Timur Minaret, Kunya-Urgench

60-meter high Kutlug Timur Minaret in Kunya-Urgench is the highest monument in Central Asia even in comparison to the mausoleum of Sultan Sandzhar.

The minaret is shaped like a conic column. Slim tapered circular trunk is divided by eighteen belts (strips) painted by an ornament and three belts of inscriptions in Kufi. In the past the minaret had a wooden Iranian lantern which had burned during a fire. To get to the top you would use a spiral staircase of 145 steps but the staircase was only accessible from the roof of the mosque which does not exist any more.

The Kutlug Timur Minaret is deprived of the rich decor of Central Asian minarets of the 11th - 12th, but it surpasses them due to its boldness of design: the height and harmony of proportions.

Scientists still argue about the age of the minaret. Some of them believe that the foundation and construction of the minaret were performed during Kutlug -Timur's rule. Others, however, say that its construction began under Mamun shakh (11th century). There is also data confirming that it was constructed in days of sultan Makhmud Gaznevi (998-1030). It has been established that it was the minaret of Kutlug-Timur (not the minaret of Mamun) survived during Mongols invasion in 1221. But the dome of the minaret being a valuable specimen of architecture had suffered heavily and was restored later.