首页Home 新疆Xinjiang >>苏公塔Sugong Ta (Emin Minaret)
Link to 极行亭 King Wong Stock Pictures of China Home Page, Pictures of China
Navigate by Photo

  • 西递Xidi village

  • 故宫Gugong (The Palace Museum)

  • 镇北台Zhenbeitai Tower

  • 颐和园Yiheyuan (Summer Palace)

  • 天坛Tiantan (Temple of Heaven)

  • 天安门广场Tiananmen Square

  • 宏村Hongcun village

  • 长江三峡Three Gorges

  • 南京六朝石刻Nanjing's Stone Beasts

  • 金山岭长城Jinshanling Great Wall

  • 关麓Guanlu village

  • 南屏Nanping village

  • 响沙湾Xiangshawan dunes

  • 北京市Beijing City

  • 常家庄园Chang Compound

  • 曹家大院Cao Compound

  • 希拉穆仁Xilamuren grassland

  • 平遥Pingyao

  • 嘉峪关长城Jiayuguan Pass

  • 吐鲁番Tulufan (Turfan)

  • 定边长城Dingbian's Great Wall

  • 苏公塔Sugong Ta

  • 人物People

  • 北京长城Beijing's Great Wall

  • 高昌故城Gaochang Ruins

  • 三关口长城Sanguankou Great Wall

  • 卧虎山长城Wohushan Great Wall

  • 工艺品Arts and Crafts

  • 古北口镇Gubeikou town

  • 秦长城Qin Great Wall

  • 哈密市至嘉峪关Hami to Jiayuguan

  • 城楼Buildings

  • 纽约中央公园New York Central Park

  • 景物Still Life

  • 花卉Flowers

  • 游记Travel Writings

  • 自然风景Natural Landscapes

  • 明清室内建设Ming and Qing Interiors

  • 正门,门廊Doorways

  • 建筑,设计的细节Architecture Designs and Details

  • 篆刻Seal Carving

  • 景物Things
地区REGION:
新疆Xinjiang
image of a group of houses across a lake in hongcun villageimage of buildings in xidi village

Walk through anhui's pleasant villages that has over 400 years of history. See the idyllic villages of 西递Xidi, 宏村Hongcun, 南屏Nanping, and 关麓Guanlu.

苏公塔Sugong Ta, also known as 额敏塔Emin Minaret, is the tallest minaret (an Islamic tower, usually attach to a mosque) in China. It is a circular tower that tapers as it rises 44 meters high. While wood can be found inside, the bulk of the structure was layered and decorated with sun-baked mud-bricks. A center post of stacked bricks rises from the base to the top, and winding around it is a 72-step staircase that leads to the top; at intervals light breaks in through 14 very narrow windows. Besides the minaret is an active mosque, which has a large interior praying hall. In the back and on the minaret's side is an active cemetery. Like many tall and symbolic structures, the minaret's purpose is to act as a converging point.

The minaret was built during the early 清朝Qing dynasty (1644-1911), in the year 1777. It was built to honor the Uygur (Uyghur) ethnic general 额敏和卓Emin Khoja by his second son 苏来曼Suleman. For his efforts in securing the area, Emin was rewarded as the 君王prefecture ruler by the Qing government. The great tower was designed by the Uygur architect 伊不拉欣Yibulaxin.1

The site is not far from the 吐鲁番市Tulufan city center, about 2 kilometer away in a grapevined village called 木纳村Munacun. I took the city bus there and because the village is quite interesting, I walked much of the way back. Like many of the roads in Tulufan, it was lined with poplar trees, so it felt very nice.

Travel Info
image of Tiananmen gateimage of the seventeen arch bridge in Yiheyuan

Walk through Beijing's great attractions -- 故宫Gugong (The Palace Museum), 天坛Tiantan (Temple of Heaven), 天坛天安门广场Tiananmen Square, 颐和园Yiheyuan (Summer Palace).

image of a group of Mongolian gersimage of dunes near Baotou city

Enjoy the wide 希拉穆仁草原Xilamuren grassland, the huge dunes of 响沙湾Xiangshawan, and the ancient Wall of the 秦Qin state in 内蒙古Neimenggu (Inner Mongolia).

苏公塔Sugong Ta (Emin Minaret)

  • Enlarge ImageAdd to LightboxLicense ImageAdd to Cart-Order Print

     苏公塔 Sugong Ta (Emin Minaret)

    The large tower, called the minaret, is the main piece in the site, but to preserve the structure no one is allowed to go up.

  • Enlarge ImageAdd to LightboxLicense ImageAdd to Cart-Order Print

     苏公塔 Sugong Ta (Emin Minaret)
  • Enlarge ImageAdd to LightboxLicense ImageAdd to Cart-Order Print

     苏公塔 Sugong Ta (Emin Minaret)
  • Enlarge ImageAdd to LightboxLicense ImageAdd to Cart-Order Print

     苏公塔 Sugong Ta (Emin Minaret)
  • Enlarge ImageAdd to LightboxLicense ImageAdd to Cart-Order Print

     苏公塔 Sugong Ta (Emin Minaret)
  • Enlarge ImageAdd to LightboxLicense ImageAdd to Cart-Order Print

     苏公塔 Sugong Ta (Emin Minaret)
  • Enlarge ImageAdd to LightboxLicense ImageAdd to Cart-Order Print

     苏公塔 Sugong Ta (Emin Minaret)
  • Enlarge ImageAdd to LightboxLicense ImageAdd to Cart-Order Print

     苏公塔 Sugong Ta (Emin Minaret)

    Entrance to the mosque part of the complex. The building is likely a recent addition.

  • Enlarge ImageAdd to LightboxLicense ImageAdd to Cart-Order Print

     苏公塔 Sugong Ta (Emin Minaret)
  • Enlarge ImageAdd to LightboxLicense ImageAdd to Cart-Order Print

     苏公塔 Sugong Ta (Emin Minaret)
  • Enlarge ImageAdd to LightboxLicense ImageAdd to Cart-Order Print

     苏公塔 Sugong Ta (Emin Minaret)
  • Enlarge ImageAdd to LightboxLicense ImageAdd to Cart-Order Print

     苏公塔 Sugong Ta (Emin Minaret)

    The praying area of the mosque.

  • Enlarge ImageAdd to LightboxLicense ImageAdd to Cart-Order Print

     苏公塔 Sugong Ta (Emin Minaret)

    The praying area of the mosque.

  • Enlarge ImageAdd to LightboxLicense ImageAdd to Cart-Order Print

     苏公塔 Sugong Ta (Emin Minaret)

    A moslem style pavillion.

  • Enlarge ImageAdd to LightboxLicense ImageAdd to Cart-Order Print

     苏公塔 Sugong Ta (Emin Minaret)
  • Enlarge ImageAdd to LightboxLicense ImageAdd to Cart-Order Print

     苏公塔 Sugong Ta (Emin Minaret)
  • Enlarge ImageAdd to LightboxLicense ImageAdd to Cart-Order Print

     苏公塔 Sugong Ta (Emin Minaret)

    The moslem cemetery filled the side of the tower and extended all the way behind the complex.

  • Enlarge ImageAdd to LightboxLicense ImageAdd to Cart-Order Print

     苏公塔 Sugong Ta (Emin Minaret)

    The moslem cemetery filled the side of the tower and extended all the way behind the complex.

  • Enlarge ImageAdd to LightboxLicense ImageAdd to Cart-Order Print

     苏公塔 Sugong Ta (Emin Minaret)

    The cemetery is in active use. On the end side of the distinctly moslem gravestone, a long cylindrical body with a petal shape profile, is an area for burning materials. I don't know what was being burnt.

  • Enlarge ImageAdd to LightboxLicense ImageAdd to Cart-Order Print

     苏公塔 Sugong Ta (Emin Minaret)

    The entrance area to the tower. The road was lined with vendors, most of them sell their famous raisins.

    Notes:
  • 1.Much of the data for the Sugong Ta minaret and its history are derived from 百度百科Baidu Baike's article of the same subject.
portrait of a Uygur girl

Travelogues and travel notes

Travel Information

Getting There:

苏公塔Sugong Ta is about 2 kilometers east of 吐鲁番市Tulufan city center. Take the city bus #102 路lu (Y.5 morning, Y1 evening) to Sugong Ta stop. The tower is not far to the right through a short road.

Entrance Ticket:

30 Yuan. (summer 2006).