Qutb Shahi Tombs

The Qutb Shahi tombs are the burial ground of the Qutb Shahi sultans of Golconda, set in the Ibrahim Bagh just north of the fort's outer wall and its Banjara Darwaza. All but the last of the dynasty's rulers lie here, along with other members of the royal family. The complex is part of the protected Golconda monuments and is on UNESCO's tentative list.

The tombs stand on raised platforms: domes on square bases ringed by pointed arches, blending Persian and Indian forms, with one- or two-storey galleries and a sarcophagus above a crypt. The domes were once faced with blue and green tiles, and the three tombs of the early sultans Sultan Quli, Jamsheed Quli and Ibrahim Quli stood taller than any other building in Hyderabad in their day. During the Mughal siege of 1687 the tombs became barracks and gun platforms. Salar Jung III later restored them with a garden and wall, and recent conservation has been carried out with the Aga Khan Trust for Culture.