Afghanistan is home to the ancient city of Ghazni, whose famous minarets were built in the twelfth century.
Ghazni is located in central-eastern Afghanistan and became the capital of the Ghaznavid Empire. Under Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni and his successors, the city developed into a major center of power, scholarship, literature, and architecture between the tenth and twelfth centuries.
The Minarets of Ghazni are the surviving lower portions of two monumental towers erected in the 1100s. Their brick surfaces contain intricate geometric decoration and bands of Kufic-style inscriptions. They originally belonged to a larger religious and urban complex, much of which has not survived intact.
Ghazni’s history includes Persianate court culture and connections across Central and South Asia. The city later declined as political centers shifted, and its monuments have faced erosion and conflict. The Minarets and Archaeological Remains of Jam were jointly placed on Afghanistan’s UNESCO World Heritage tentative list in 2009.