New Delhi, the capital of India, is a millennial city that currently has nearly 22 million inhabitants. Every corner there is full of stories, some even enigmatic - such as the Iron Pillar, which is adjacent to the Quwwat ul-Islam mosque in the Qutb Complex, a place with many monuments and buildings.

The conundrum behind the Iron Pillar is why it landed in New Delhi, who transported it, when it happened, and what its purpose was. At 7 meters high, it catches the eye because it is 98% made of wrought iron and is highly corrosion resistant. At its top there was possibly a kind of iron plate, which his lost over time. The Iron Pillar function is also enigmatic: it was originally believed to be a sundial, but this is not a consensus.

1600 years of mysteries

The Quwwat ul-Islam mosque today is in ruins and was built in 1192. The pillar, however, was already there, but it was made long before that, around the year 300. The history of the monument says that it was made to a king and to a god, probably Chandragupta Vikramaditya and Vishnu, respectively. The same reports say the pillar was initially located in the caves of Udayagiri in the state of Madhya Pradesh, south of New Delhi, but it is not known when it changed its address.

What really strikes you is that the monument is still standing and has not been eroded by time. This, according to the Indians, is a testament to the power and efficiency of the country's ancestral blacksmiths, who would have used misawite-coated noble irons, a component that has never been proven to exist.

The most likely reason for the Iron Pillar's durability, however, is in the weather conditions: New Delhi is a fairly dry city most of the time, making it difficult to corrode iron due to moisture.

The pillar is just one of the Qutb Complex monument

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