The Taj Mahal (India) is the most famous tourist attraction in the country, located in Agra, on the banks of the river Jamna. The Taj Mahal is an incomparable beauty complex consisting of a mausoleum palace, a mosque, a main gate, a guest house and a landscaped park with an irrigation system. This complex was built by Padishah Shah Jahan as a final tribute to his beloved consort Mumtaz Mahal.
Interesting! The Taj Mahal can be seen in many films, for example: “Life after People”, “Armageddon”, “Slumdog Millionaire”, “Until I played in the box”.
This article briefly describes the history of the creation of the Taj Mahal, and there is also a lot of useful information for people who are going to visit this landmark in India. There are also colorful photos of the Taj Mahal, taken outside and inside the building.
A bit of history
It can be argued that to some extent the history of the creation of the Taj Mahal dates back to 1612. It was then that the Mughal Padishah Shah Jahan married Arjumand Bano Begum. In history, this woman is better known as Mumtaz Mahal, which means “Decoration of the Palace”. Shah Jahan was very fond of his wife, he trusted and consulted her in everything. Mumtaz Mahal accompanied the ruler on military campaigns, attended all state-level events, and if she could not attend an event, it was simply postponed.
The story of love and happy family life of a noble couple lasted 18 years. During this time, Mumtaz Mahal gave her husband 13 children, but she could not survive the birth of the 14th child.
After the death of his wife, Shah Jahan spent a whole year in seclusion, aged and slouched during this time. To pay the last tribute to the love of Mumtaz Mahal, the padishah decided to build a palace-mausoleum, which was not and will not be equal on Earth.
A fact from history! A total of over 22,000 craftsmen from the Mughal Empire, Persia, Central Asia and the Middle East participated in the construction of the complex.
As is known from history, the Taj Mahal began to be built at the end of 1631. For this purpose, a plot of 1.2 hectares was chosen, located outside Agra, near the river Jamna. The site was completely dug up, the ground was replaced to reduce infiltration, and the site was raised 50 meters above the river bank.
Interesting! Usually, bamboo scaffolding was used for construction in India, and brick scaffolding was built around the tomb. Because they were too large-scale and strong, the masters who led the work were worried that they would have to be disassembled for more than one year. But Shah Jahan ordered to announce that anyone can take any number of bricks-as a result, literally overnight, the entire auxiliary building was dismantled.
Since the construction was carried out in stages, there are different opinions about what is considered the completion of the Taj Mahal. The platform and the central mausoleum (including the work inside the structure) were completed by 1643, and work on the creation of all other elements of the complex lasted another 10 years.
A fact from history! Construction and finishing materials were imported from almost all over the world: white marble – from Rajasthan, jasper-from Punjab, jade-from China, carnelian-from Arabia, chrysolite-from the Nile coast, sapphires – from Ceylon, carnelian – from Baghdad, rubies – from the kingdom of Siam, turquoise-from Tibet.
Shah Jahan left many architectural landmarks to his descendants, but it was the Taj Mahal that remained in history as an unsurpassed monument, forever immortalizing the names of the Padishah and his faithful companion.
In 1666, Shah Jahan died and was buried inside the Taj Mahal, next to Mumtaz Mahal.
But the history of the Taj Mahal in India did not end with the death of its creator.
Present time
Not so long ago, cracks were discovered on the walls of the Taj Mahal. Scientists believe that their formation is directly related to the drying up of the river Jamna, which flows nearby. Drying out of the riverbed leads to changes in the soil structure and, as a result, the building shrinks.
Due to the polluted air in this area of India, the Taj Mahal is losing its whiteness – this is also visible in the photo. And even the expansion of the green zone around the complex and the closure of several of the dirtiest industries in Agra do not help: the building turns yellow. To maintain the legendary whiteness of the marble walls, they are regularly cleaned with white clay.
But despite all this, the magnificent Taj Mahal (Agra, India) always attracts with its architectural perfection and the legend of true love.
Interesting fact! Every year, this attraction is visited by from 3,000,000 to 5,000,000 tourists, of which more than 200,000 are foreigners.
Complex architecture
The architecture of the Taj Mahal harmoniously combines elements of several styles: Indian, Persian, and Arabic. A short description and colorful photos will help you understand the beauty of the Taj Mahal.
The Taj Mahal is an ensemble consisting of a central gate, a garden, a mosque, a pavilion for guests and a mausoleum palace, inside which are the tombs of Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan. Fenced from 3 sides, the territory on which the complex is equipped has a rectangular shape (dimensions 600 and 300 meters). The main gate, made of red stone, resembles a small palace with side towers. These towers are crowned with domes, and above the entrance in 2 rows of 11 pieces there are small domes-umbrellas. On the entrance gate there are phrases from the Koran that end with the words “Enter My paradise!” – Shah Jahan created paradise for his beloved.
Char-Bagh (4 gardens) is an integral part of the ensemble, favorably emphasizing the color and texture of the tomb. In the center of the road leading from the gate to the mausoleum is a canal, in the waters of which this snow-white marble building is reflected.
On the west side of the mausoleum is a red sandstone mosque, to the east – a guest house. Its main task was only to preserve the symmetry of the entire architectural complex.
The Mausoleum
As you can see in the photo, the Taj Mahal stands on a marble platform, its back side facing the river Jamne. The platform has a square shape, each side reaches a length of 95.4 meters. At the corners of the platform are beautiful snow-white minarets, looking up (their height is 41 meters). The minarets tilt slightly in the opposite direction from the tomb – as chroniclers wrote in history, this is done so that during an earthquake they do not collapse on the building and destroy everything inside it.
The Taj Mahal, built from blocks of snow-white marble, rises 74 meters high. The structure is crowned by 5 domes: a central dome of bulbous shape (diameter 22.5 meters) surrounded by 4 smaller domes.
Interesting fact! Thanks to the features of polished marble, the Taj Mahal changes its color several times a day: at sunrise it looks pink, during the day it shines white in sunlight, at dusk it emits a purple-pink glow, and at moonlight it looks silver.
The walls of the Taj Mahal are carved with an intricate pattern in the style of pietra dura and inlaid with precious stones. A total of 28 types of stones were used for inlay. Looking closely at the small details, you can appreciate the complexity of the work that the craftsmen had to perform: for example, there are small decorative elements (an area of 3 cm2), on which more than 50 gemstones are placed. On the walls around the arched openings are carved sayings from the Koran.
Interesting! Lines with phrases from the Koran look the same regardless of how high they are from the floor. This optical effect is created as follows: the higher the line is located, the larger the font is used and the larger the gap between the letters is made.
What does the mausoleum look like inside
After the grandeur and airiness – which is exactly how you want to describe the impression of the Taj Mahal’s exterior-it doesn’t seem so impressive from the inside. But this is only at first glance.
Inside, along the walls of the tomb, there is a corridor, at the turns of which octagonal chambers are arranged. Under the main dome, enclosed within the surrounding corridor, is the main hall.
Inside the mausoleum, in the main hall, there are tombs of Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan. Around them stands an exquisite fence: marble slabs with a carved pattern, decorated with chased gold and precious gems.
It should be noted that inside the Taj Mahal is as symmetrical as outside. Only the cenotaph of Shah Jahan, installed much later than the cenotaph of Mumtuz Mazal, violates this symmetry. The tomb of Mumtuz-Mazal, which was installed inside the tomb immediately when it was created, stands in the very center, right under the central dome.
The real graves of Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan are located inside the crypt, strictly under the tombs.
Taj Museum
Inside the memorial complex, in the western part of the park, there is a small but rather interesting museum. It is open from 10: 00 to 17: 00, admission is free.
Among the exhibits presented inside the museum:
- architectural drawings of the mausoleum palace;
- silver and gold coins that were in use during the time of Shah Jahan;
- original miniatures with portraits of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal;
- celadon dishes (there is an interesting story that these plates will fly apart or change color if they contain poisoned food).
Practical information
- Place of interest: Dharmaperi, Forest Colony, Tejginj, Agra, Uttar Pradesh 282001, India.
- Official website of this historical monument: http://www.tajmahal.gov.in.
- The Taj Mahal opens 30 minutes before sunrise and stops receiving visitors 30 minutes before sunset. This schedule is valid for any day of the week, except Friday. On Fridays, only those who want to attend the mosque service are allowed to enter the complex.
Tickets: where to buy and price
- For tourists who come to India from other countries, a ticket to enter the site of the attraction costs 1,100 rupees (approximately $15.5).
- To view the tomb inside, you need to pay another 200 rupees (about $2.8).
- Children under the age of 15 can view the entire territory and the interior of the mausoleum for free.
You can buy tickets at the ticket offices located at the East and West Gates. Ticket offices open 1 hour before dawn and close 45 minutes before sunset. For foreigners and for citizens of India, there are separate windows at the ticket offices.
Tickets can also be purchased online. Only one official website offers sales services – this is the website of the Ministry of Culture of India: https://asi.payumoney.com. Booking e-tickets on this portal is available to both Indian citizens and foreign tourists. Moreover, foreigners receive a discount of 50 rupees (approximately $0.7).
The ticket price includes a bottle of water and shoe covers-they are issued to all visitors at the entrance. Shoe covers sewn from a pleasant soft fabric should be worn over shoes.
Useful tips
- All ticket offices have separate windows for citizens of India and for foreign tourists (here they are usually much smaller) – you just need to look at the signs. On the way to the ticket offices, local merchants usually stick to foreigners, offering tickets at very inflated prices (2-3 times more expensive). The most convenient way to save time and save nerves is to make a reservation on the website of the Ministry of Culture of India.
- The local government of Agra is doing everything possible to prevent terrorist attacks and to protect historical monuments from acts of vandalism. To do this, there are special security checkpoints at the entrance to the complex. Inside the complex, you can only have a bottle of water, a camera without a tripod, money, documents and a map of the Agra tourist guide. Everything else must be taken to the storage room. Therefore, you should not take large bags with you: this will only increase the search time, and you will still have to wait in line for the storage rooms.
- Check points for foreigners and for the Indian population are separate – you need to carefully look at which queue to stand in. Screening of women and men is also carried out separately, respectively, and the queues are different.
- Within a radius of approximately 50 meters from the security checkpoint, there is a free Wi-Fi access zone.
- Especially magnificent is the Taj Mahal (India) at dawn, so the time from 5: 30 is recognized as the best time to visit. In addition, there are much fewer people here at this time, and you can see everything inside the building more calmly.
- You can’t take photos inside the Taj Mahal mausoleum, but no one forbids it on the territory adjacent to it. Impressive pictures are taken at dawn, when the palace is wrapped in a morning haze and seems to float in the air. And how cute and naive are the shots where visitors hold the palace by the top of the dome!
- Choosing the right time of year to visit the Taj Mahal is the key to the most positive impressions and emotions. The ideal time to visit Agra is February and March. From April to July, the stifling heat lasts here, the temperature rises to +45°C. The rainy season begins in July, but it ends only in September. Starting from October and almost until February, the city has heavy fogs, which make the Taj Mahal barely visible.
