Minaret
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A minaret is a type of tower typically built into or adjacent to mosques. Minarets are generally used to project the Muslim call to prayer (adhan) from a muezzin, but they also served as landmarks and symbols of Islam's presence. They can have a variety of forms, from thick, squat towers to soaring, pencil-thin spires.
Minaret at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus
An orientalist depiction of the muezzin's call to prayer from the balcony of a minaret, 1878. Usually only one muezzin chants the azan from the balcony, back straight and not leaning on the railing.
Inside the stairway of a minaret in Mostar
Inside the Giralda minaret in Seville, which has ascending ramps instead of stairs
Tower
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A tower is a tall structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting structures.
Tokyo Skytree, the tallest tower in the world
Azadi Tower in Tehran, Iran; an example of Iranian architecture of various periods
Roman tower (reconstruction) at Limes – Taunus / Germany
Eiffel Tower in Paris