The Qutb Shahi Monuments of Hyderabad

The TWHS Monuments and Forts of the Deccan Sultanate (2014) and The Qutb Shahi Monuments of Hyderabad (2010) both include the Qutb Shahi Tombs in Hyderabad. They have already been on the verge of nomination: examination by ICOMOS of the dossier was postponed in 2014 when India nominated 2 sites that year (they preferred pursuing Rani-ki Vav). 

I did a quick afternoon visit to Golconda Fort and the Tombs while staying in Hyderabad the night before going to the Ramappa Temple WHS. I can be short about the Fort: it’s like a fortress of which I saw so many on last year’s Pakistan trip, dilapidated and so large you won’t know where to start restoring it. As in Pakistan by the way, its origins are (Shia) Muslim – the local Golconda Sultanate (16th-17th centuries) had strong cultural ties with Persia. The current population of Hyderabad also comprises a large Islamic minority (30%).

The outlook on the Tombs is totally different from that of the fort. I wasn’t really prepared for what I would find here, being so far into my India trip (day 23) that I had gotten a bit sloppy about writing down notes beforehand. I knew there were tombs, my rickshaw driver yelled enthusiastically “Seven Tombs” (its popular name, because 7 sultans are buried here). But it turns out there are 40 of them in one 106-acre compound. Unlike most cultural sites in India, this one isn’t managed by the ASI but by the Telangana State. …

I visited Hyderabad in December 2011, including Charminar (the city's principal landmark), Laad Bazaar and Golcanda Fort (15 minutes from Charminar by rickshaw), and had mutton biryani for lunch at Paradise restaurant in Secunderabad, founded in 1953 (paradisefoodcourt.com/).