Agra-Taj Mahal in Uttar Pradesh

Taj, the icon of India was built by emperor Shah Jahan for his beloved wife Arjumand Bano Begum, popularly known as Mumtaz Mahal, who died in 1630. This sheer poetry in marble considered by many as the ‘eight wonder of the medieval world; is indeed the most extravagant monument ever made for love. A garden laid by Raja Man Singh of Amber, on the banks the river Yamuna was chosen as the site for building the Taj. Its construction started in 1632 and about 20,000 workers toiled for seventeen years to complete the enchanting mausoleum. This image of Islamic garden of paradise is said to have costed nearly 41 million rupees and 500 kgs. of gold. A township for the workers was built near the site and was named after the deceased empress-‘Mumtazabad’, now known as Taj Ganj. Unlike other tombs, the Taj is set on one side of the well laid out gardens measuring 300 x 300 meters, in the form of a quadrangular Charbagh style, with its square lawns separated by pathways, watercourses emanating from the central raised square pool and rows of fountains. It is set on a 6 meters high marble plinth with four minarets at each corner of the plinth, rising to a height of 41.6 meters and crowned by a chhatri. The minarets are deliberately angled at 88 degrees outwards, so that during any calamity like, an earthquake, the minarets would fall away from the tomb. The plinth is set on a sandstone platform and is flanked by to identical structures at the far end. The structure to the left is a mosque and its jawab or echo on the other side.
The central bulbous dome of the Taj rising to a height of 44.41 meters rests on an extraordinarily high drum, with four chhattris on the corners. Within the mausoleum is a lofty octagonal central hall and four smaller octagonal halls around it. Just below the dome, in the center of the main hall is the cenotaph of Mumtaz Mahal and to its left is the cenotaph of Shah Jahan. An ornately carved marble screen inscribed with verses from the holy Koran surrounds the cenotaphs. Both tombs are exquisitely inlaid with semi precious stones. The real tombs lie in the crypt below the central hall and are not for public viewing. The splendid acoustics of the structure are also noteworthy. The Taj is worthy more than a single visit as its sublime beauty varies with seasons and of different time of the day. At sunrise the marble acquires a delicate pinkish touch, while in the afternoon it glows in majestic white and in the evenings the colour turns to a soft pearly grey. On full moon nights the glory of the majestic structure is at its best under the soft and subdued moonlight.