Grand, majestic, powerful... What epithets are not heard about this unique structure from the Middle Ages. And it is really so! Reaching a height of 60 meters, the Kutlug-Timur Minaret in Kunya-Urgench is the tallest monument in Central Asia, "surpassing" even the Sultan Sanjar Mausoleum. The minaret is a conical column. The slender, tapering round trunk is dissected by eighteen belts (stripes) painted with ornaments and three belts of inscriptions in "kufi". In the past, the minaret had a wooden lantern of the Iranian type, which burned down in a fire. A spiral staircase of 145 steps leads to the top of the minaret, which could only be reached from the roof of a mosque that no longer exists. The Kutlug-Timur Minaret lacks the rich decor of the Central Asian minarets of the 11th-12th centuries, but surpasses them in the boldness of its construction: height and slender proportions. Scientists are still debating the age of the minaret. Some believe that the foundation and construction of the minaret were made during the reign of Kutlug-Timur, by order of the ruler himself. Others believe that they began to build it under Shah Mamun (11th century). There is also information that it was built during the time of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni (998-1030). It has only been established that it (and not the Mamun minaret) survived the destruction of the city by the Mongols in 1221. But the dome of the minaret, which is a valuable example of architecture, was badly damaged and was subsequently restored.