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Golconda has been known as famous center for diamonds,and the diamond mines boast of some of the most renowned diamonds in the world. The Kohinoor originally belonged to Golconda as did the Darya-I-Noor, the Orloff, the Pitt, and the great table of the Nizam.
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Standing atop an isolation hill on the outskirts of the city, the fort is known for its acoustic effects in built in the architectural design. The original fort was built by the Kakatiyas of Warangal, some eight hundred years ago. The Qutb Shahi rulers of hyderabad adopted for fort and converted the mud structure into solid battlements and palaces with stone.
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The Hussain Sagar Lake is a large artificial lake lying between Hyderabad and Secunderabad. The largest of the lakes of Hyderabad and around which the city is spread, it was built by Ibrahim Quli Qutb Shah.A huge statue of Lord Buddha has been put into the center of the lake.
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A very fine zoo spread over 320 acres and housing over 3000 animals and birds. The other attractions of the place are a lion safari park, a natural history museum, a pre-historic animal park and a children's park with facilities of a mini-train.
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The Salar Jung Museum is the largest one-man collection of antiques in the world. The museum exhibits over 35,000 objects of art like Chinese Porcelain, Aurangazeb's Sword, and Daggers belonging to Queen Noor Jehan, Emperor Jahangir & Shah Jahan, Sculpture, Indian paintings & Persian carpets. Some of the highlights are the Veiled Rebecca, the translucent white marble statue by Bezoni, the Arms section, The Jade section & the Oriental Section.
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Popularly called the Birla Minder, the white marble temple dedicated to Lord Venkateswara stands on one of the two hillocks, Naubat Pahad and Kala Pahad. The temple presents a beautiful sight at night when it is illuminated, standing against the dark sky.
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Near the Charminar stand four magnificent arches called Char Kaman, which served as the gateway to the Zilu Khana (ante chamber) of the royal palace and are named Machli Kaman, Kali Kaman, Sher Gil Ki Kaman and Char Minar ki Kaman. The Char-su-ka-hauz, a cistern with a fountain in the center of the arches is now called Gulzar Hauz. The royal residential palaces stood around the Charminar.Of the Qutb Shahi royal palaces in Hyderabad nothing of importance has survived; not even the Qutb Mandir, the pleasure of which admitted only Muhammad Quli and his female companions. The gardens have simply vanished. The mosques have been however spared.
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The majestic architectural hub of the city stands at the heart of the old city of Hyderabad, built by Mohammad Quli Qutub Shah in 1591. It has four wide roads radiating in the four cardinal directions.The four minarets command the landscape for miles. The structure is square,each side measuring 100 feet, with a central pointed high arch at the center. The whole edifice contains numerous small decorative arches arranged both vertically and horizontally. The prominently projected cornice on the first floor upholds a series of six arches and capitals on each façade, rising to the double-story gallery of the minarets.The projected canopy, ornamental brackets and decoration in stucco plaster add graceful elegance to the structure. On the upper courtyard, a screen of arches topped by a row of square jall or water screens lends a fragile charm to the sturdy appearance of Charminar.
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There are two galleries in it, one over another, and all over a terrace that serves for a roof, bordered with a stone balcony. At each corner of the building there is a tower about ten fathom high, and each tower has four galleries with little arches on the outside. It is vaulted underneath and appears like a dome. There is a large table raised seven or eight feet from the ground with steps to go up to it. All the galleries of that building serve to make the water mount up, that so being afterwards conveyed to the kings palace, it might reach the highest apartments. Nothing in the town seems so lovely as the outside of that building; nevertheless it is surrounded with ugly shops made of wood and covered with straw, where they sell fruit which spoils the prospect of it.
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Near the Charminar stands the Mecca Masjid, begun by Muhammad Qutb Shah in 1617 and completed by Quranzeb in 1693. It is a grand edifice with a huge courtyard which can accommodate nearly ten thousand men at prayer. Tavernier has provided a graphic description of the mammoth boulders cut to size and carted for use in the building of the mosque. The minarets look rather stunted in comparison with the grandeur of the whole massive structure. But it looks more Mughal then Qutb Shahi in its perfect granite finish and vast courtyard. A particular stone brick in the mihrab is believed to have been brought from Mecca.
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