The Minaret of Jam (Minar-e-Jam) is Afghanistan’s first UNESCO Heritage Site. It is the second highest minaret in the world (65 m), after Qutb Minar in Delhi. It is said that the design of Qutb Minar was actually inspired by the splendid architecture of the Minaret of Jam. The minaret is somehow mysteriously located in the middle of rugged hills not far from the village of Jam, in the middle of nowhere. Why it was build there remains a controversy. The latest finding supports the theory that this minaret was the location of the lost kingdom of Firuzkoh (lit. means “Turquoise Mountains”).
Minaret of Jam, Herat, Afghanistan, 2008