Lightning struck the right minaret of the 400-year-old Qutb Shahi Masjid at Langar Houz near Golconda Fort during heavy rains on Monday evening.
“There was a huge explosive sound and the finial of the minaret fell down just before the Maghrib prayers,” said Farooq Ansari, showing a two-foot long shattered conical finial. “Luckily there was nobody there and nobody was harmed. But all our electronic equipment got destroyed due to the lightning,” said Mr. Ansari who heads the Masjid Committee.
The masjid is one of the oldest in the city with ornate limestone stucco work. It is on the route taken by the soldiers of Aurangzeb during the final conquest of the Golconda Fort in 1687, when a traitor opened a small window near the Fateh Darwaza to let in the Mughal soldiers. The older portion is fronted by a newer construction built in 1986 to allow more people to pray. But the original qibla wall and the arches and the ceiling show wear and tear.
