Herat used to have a massive madrassa complex, built around 1500, called Musalla. Today all that is left are these precariously leaning minarets. Time has done significant damage; soldiers (British in the 19th century, warlords in the 1990s who used the minarets for artillery target practice) have done more; and today, the most immediate threat to the one minaret obviously about to tip over is traffic. The vibrations from the vehicle traffic are loosening the minarets' foundations. Iron cables hold up the smaller minaret on the left. This is a view from the walls of the city citadel.
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