Brief Introduction: Emin minaret is located in the east of Turpan around 2 km, which is an Islamic tower with  novel and unique shape. It was built in 1778 A.D. of Qing dynasty (1644-1911A.D.),which is the largest ancient tower existing in Xinjiang. In 1985 it was listed as the national key cultural relic site. The minaret is relative with the Uygur leader of Turpan at that time, whose name was Emin. When he was 83 years old , they spent 7000 liang silver (One liang is generally equal to 450 yuan RMB at that time) by themselves to build the minaret in order to repay the appreciation of Qing dynasty ,express their piety to Allah and hand down a good reputation to a hundred future generations. So the name of minaret was called Emin minaret. 

There are one stone monument by the entrance of the minaret. One was carved in Chinese and the other was carved in Uygur language with the same content which showed when and why the minaret was built. The minaret was totally made of grey bricks without any wood.  It is 37m high with the diameter at the column foot. The whole minaret looks conical, of which it is smaller at the top and bigger at the bottom. Inside the minaret 72 different layers of brick steps were built leading to the top of minaret in spiral shape. At the different directions and different heights of the minaret there were 14 windows built. The surface of the minaret was layered with 15 geometric patterns, such as triangular pattern, four-petalled pattern, water ripple and ringer pattern, with strong Islamic architectural style.

Nearby the minaret an Islam mosque was built as well at that time. It covers an area of 2500 square meters, which can accommodate over one thousand people to worship at the same time. The mosque is solemn and primitive with spacious interior. During the Id al-fitr (Roza) festival and Corban festival many muslim will behere to worship.

The level: National key cultural relics protection site

Entrance fee: 40 yuan RMB

Opening Time: 10:00-18:30 (Oct. 21--Apr.20);08:00--21:00 (Apr.21--Oct.20); 

Visiting Time Normally:1-1.5 hour

Better Seasons to Visit: March- October

Travel Tips:1. Although Turpan is located in the basin, tourists still need prepare sunhats, sunglasses ,scream and moisturisers.
2. Tourists have to respect the life and religion of the local minorities.
3. Sometimes many groups are crowded in the scenic area, so tourists have to keep their belongs.

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More pictures:

             the bird's view                                                   graveyard of Musim by the minaret                                 the interior of mosque by the minaret