The Taj Mahal is an ivory-white marble mausoleum on the south bank of the Yamuna river in the Indian city of Agra. It was commissioned in 1632 by the Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan (reigned from 1628 to 1658), to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. The tomb is the centrepiece of a 17-hectare (42-acre)complex, which includes a mosque and a guest house, and is set in formal gardens bounded on three sides by a crenellated wall.
Construction of the mausoleum was essentially completed in 1643 but work continued on other phases of the project for another 10 years. The Taj Mahal complex is believed to have been completed in its entirety in 1653 at a cost estimated at the time to be around 32 million rupees, which in 2015 would be approximately 52.8 billion rupees (U.S. $827 million). The construction project employed some 20,000 artisans under the guidance of a board of architects led by the court architect to the emperor, Ustad Ahmad Lahauri.
The Taj Mahal was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983 for being “the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world’s heritage”. It is regarded by many as the best example of Mughal architecture and a symbol of India’s rich history. The Taj Mahal attracts 7–8 million visitors a year. In 2007, it was declared a winner of the New 7 Wonders of the World (2000–2007) initiative.
History of Taj Mahal
The Taj Mahal was built by Mughal Emperor, Shah Jahan, in the memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal who died in 1631 while giving birth to their 14th child. Mumtaz, Shah Jahan’s third wife, was known for her exceptional beauty, and the emperor was known to be mad about her. Crestfallen by her sudden death, the emperor, it is believed, turned grey-haired in just one night. Work on the Taj began in 1632, but it wasn’t until 1653 that the whole monument came together in its current form. But as fate would have it, soon after the Taj was built Shah Jahan was overthrown by his son Aurangazeb who held him prisoner in the Agra Fort, where he spent the rest of his years yearning for the Taj. Shah Jahan after his death in 1666 was buried beside his beloved Mumtaz in the Taj Mahal.
A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983 for being the “jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world’s heritage”, an army of 20,000 artisans from across India, Central Asia and Europe were employed to work on the Taj.
Taj Mahal Architecture
The Taj Complex
The ornamental gardens designed on the lines of the typical Mughal Charbagh, is a square garden dissected by water bodies with an ornamental marble plinth running through its center. To the northern end of the complex is the elevated marble platform on which the main mausoleum stands. The raised podium is to lift it above the other structures on the complex, as if reaching out to the very skies. A 40-metre-high white minaret adorns each corner of the marble platform, and call it an engineering masterstroke, the towers each slightly lean outwards. This was so that they fall away in case of an earthquake and let the superstructure remain unperturbed.
Buildings on the Taj Mahal Complex
The main entrance to Taj is an ornate Mughal structure predominantly made of white marble with tomb-like archways. The arches are rich in calligraphy and have vaulted ceilings and walls with geometric designs. On the other end of the structure there are two identical red sandstone buildings, the western building is actually a mosque, and its prototype, a jawab (answer).
Taj Mahal Central Structure
Built in semi-translucent white marble with intricate carvings and inlay work of precious and semi-precious gems, the four identical sides of the mausoleum is majestic in its detailing. There are four small domes topping the central structure with one large bulbous dome in the centre. Right below the main dome lies the cenotaph of Mumtaz Mahal with gorgeous jaali and inlay work in marble, and beside it the cenotaph of her husband. The construction is such that sunlight streams in directly through the jaali and falls on the cenotaphs. But the actual tombs of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz are in a chamber in a basement room that is not open for public viewing.
Taj Mahal Quick Facts
- A 1000 elephants were used to transport building materials for the construction of the Taj.
- The brilliant white marble came in from Makrana in Rajasthan, the jade and crystal came from China, the jasper from Punjab, the turquoise from Tibet, the Lapis Lazuli from Afghanistan, the carnelian from Arabia and the sapphire from Sri Lanka.
- The famous inlay work on the marble has about 28 varieties of precious and semi-precious stones.