Qabus, the Ziyarid ruler who reigned from 978 to 1012, ordered the tower as his own tomb, as the inscription bands state. The foundation is dated 1006 or 1007 in both the Iranian solar and Islamic lunar calendars, and the tower was built during his lifetime.
The article gives two heights: about 200 feet (61 m) in the lead and about 160 feet (50 m) above ground, including the conical roof, in the architecture section. The interior diameter at the base is 31.7 feet (9.67 m). It is built of fine baked brick, pale yellow that has turned golden in the sun, and has buttresses with one inscription panel between each pair.
Two bands of rhymed prose, one above the doorway and one below the roof, are each divided into ten panels. According to Sheila Blair, the entrance holds some of the earliest evidence of muqarnas in Iran. UNESCO inscribed the tower in 2012.
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