Smith's Folly

Smith’s Folly is a pillared, red sandstone cupola resting on the lawns of the Qutb Minar complex. It appears as an elegant, open-air pavilion, yet its presence in the garden is the result of a nineteenth-century architectural controversy. Originally intended to crown the top of the adjacent Qutb Minar, the structure was built in eighteen twenty-eight by Major Robert Smith of the British Indian Army.