Original caption: To imagine this 400-year-old city without Charminar is to imagine New York without the Statue of Liberty or Moscow without the Kremlin. Built in 1591, this beautiful colossus in granite, lime, mortar and, some say, pulverised marble, was at one time the heart of the city. Enter the area and you can smell the fragrances of Persia, the attars of Afghanistan and the scents of Saudi Arabia as you jostle among crowds that seem to be hardly aware of this architectural splendor. You’ll also find a whole lot of pearl dealers seated in shops around the structure. It even has a small mosque located on its roof. Earlier you could have climbed up the stairs and watched the locale from a height of about 54 meters, but some unfortunate incidents have led to the stairs being sealed.