Repair work on 428-yr-old Charminar to begin soon

A portion of the lime stucco decoration work on one of the four minarets of the 428-year-old monument fell off late Wednesday night and the repair work is expected to take around two months as lime takes time to set, unlike cement which sets in 24 hours.

Hyderabad (Telangana): Days after a big chunk of lime-plaster from the iconic Charminar's west minaret flaked away, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is expected to soon begin its repair work.

The preliminary work of putting up scaffoldings to reach the top is expected to begin between Saturday and Sunday, as some basic repair work has already started, said an ASI official.

"We have done the inspection. We have taken the views of the superintending archaeologist under whose tenure the conservation work in 2001 and 2010 was taken up," said official.

The repair work is expected to take around two months as lime takes time to set-in, unlike cement which sets in 24 hours, the official added.

A portion of the lime stucco decoration work on one of the four minarets of the 428-year-old monument fell off late Wednesday night.

It was a normal phenomenon with any old structure, added the ASI official.

The Charminar was built in 1591 by Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, the fifth ruler of the Qutb Shahi dynasty, also the founder of Hyderabad city.

In August 2010, a small portion of one its four minarets fell off from the ancient structure after a heavy downpour.

Each of the four tall, pointed, gracefully-carved minarets soar to a height of 48.7 meters above the ground, commanding the landscape for miles around.