The Taj
Mahal is Located in Agra, India, Construction of the Taj Mahal began
in the year 1932 and was competed in 1648, The Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan
has commissioned it as a mausoleum for his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal
The Taj
Mahal is considered the finest example of Mughal architecture that combines
elements of Persian, Turkish, Indian, and Islamic architectural styles.The
Taj is set in and around a large charbagh and stands on the bank of
River Yamuna. The focus of the Taj Mahal is the white marble tomb. The
marble dome that surmounts the tomb is its most spectacular feature.
Its height is about the same size as the base of the building, about
35 meters. The main dome is crowned by a gilded spire or finial. The
finial was made of gold until the early 1800s, and it is now made of
bronze. At the corners of the plinth stand minarets — four large
towers each more than 40 meters tall. The minarets again display the
Taj Mahal's penchant for symmetry. Nearly every surface of the entire
complex has been decorated. The exterior decorations of the Taj Mahal
are among the finest to be found in Mughal architecture of any period.
Throughout the complex, passages from the Qur'an are used as decorative
elements. The calligraphy is a florid and practically illegible thuluth
script. Mumtaz Mahal's cenotaph is placed at the precise center of the
inner chamber. On a rectangular marble base about 1.5 meters by 2.5
meters is a smaller marble casket
It was
listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983 when it was described
as a "universally admired masterpiece of the world's heritage.
The legend,the
poetry and the romance that shroud was described by Rabindranath Tagore
as "a teardrop on the cheek of time". Taj Mahal means "Crown
Palace" and is in fact the most well preserved and architecturally
beautiful tomb in the world. It is best described by the English poet,Sir
Edwin Arnold,as "Not a piece of architecture,as other buildings
are,but the proud passions of an emperor's love wrought in living stones."
It is a celebration of woman built in marble and that's the way to appreciate
it
