Mudhafaria Minaret
Also known as the Choli Minaret, this elegant brick tower was raised in the late 12th century under the Atabeg rulers of Erbil. Standing about 36 metres tall on an octagonal base decorated with intricate carved and blue-glazed brickwork, it once belonged to a long-vanished mosque and now stands alone in a green park as the finest surviving piece of medieval architecture in the region.
3 stops to discover
- 1
Brickwork of the Atabegs
Look closely at the minaret's decorated bands: geometric patterns laid entirely in baked brick, with traces of the turquoise glaze that once covered them. This craftsmanship dates from the late 1100s, the golden age of the Atabeg princes who ruled Erbil.
- 2
The Builders' Signatures
Raised more than eight hundred years ago under the prince Muzaffar al-Din Gokboru, this 36-metre brick minaret still carries the names of the men who made it. In its Kufic calligraphy you can find the names Muhammad and Mas'oudi Muhammadi, recorded as the minaret's builders.
- 3
The Minaret Without a Mosque
This tower is widely believed to be the only surviving piece of the Muzaffariya Mosque, a building from Erbil's medieval expansion that has otherwise completely vanished. For centuries the minaret stood alone in open, undeveloped ground, which earned it its popular name, 'Choli' — a Kurdish word meaning desolate or empty.
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