We explain what the Taj Mahal is, where it is located and the history of its construction. Also, what are its characteristics and legends.
What is the Taj Mahal?
The Taj Mahal is a funerary monument in the city of Agra, India. Its name in Hindi means “crown of the palaces.” It was erected between 1631 and 1654 during the rule of Emperor Shah Jahan of the Mughal dynasty.
This huge palace It is considered one of the most beautiful examples of architecture in the regiona confluence of different aesthetics and cultures. The entire complex of walled buildings covers an area of 17 hectares and includes a gigantic mosque.
The Taj Mahal is one of the wonders of the world. Furthermore, it is a very important tourist destination of India, receiving between 7 and 8 million visitors annually.
See also: Nepal
Who built it?
This wonder of the world It was commissioned from the court architect Ustad Ahmad Lahori..
The Muslim Emperor Shah Jahan (1592-1666) ordered its construction to pay tribute to his fourth and favourite wife, Arjumand Banu Begum, better known as Mamtaz Mahal, who died giving birth to the monarch’s fourteenth daughter.
History of the Taj Mahal
Shah Jahan ordered the construction of the Taj Mahal in 1632, as an offering to his wife, who had just passed away. Even before this work, the emperor was an important patron of various art forms.
He dedicated enormous resources to the beautification of India, especially its capital, located in the city of Agra (later moved to Delhi). For example, in honor of Mamtaz Mahal also ordered the design and construction of the Shalimar Gardens in Lahore.
The work was completed only in 1656. The emperor was already very ill and his two sons, Shah Shuja and Aurangzeb (Abu Muzaffar Muhiuddin Muhammad Aurangzeb Alamgir) were rising to claim their own empires.
Deposed from power, the former monarch was allowed to live out his remaining 10 years under house arrest, which he is said to have spent staring out of the window at the mausoleum of his beloved wife. When he died, he was buried with her inside the Taj Mahal..
By the end of the 19th century, when India was under British rule, the Taj Mahal was in a very poor state of repair and parts of the building were in danger of collapsing. Many of the precious jewels in its walls and many of its structures had been stolen or damaged during the Sepoy Rebellion of 1857.
Its restoration began in 1908, by order of the British Viceroy Lord Curzon. He also ordered the construction of the great lamp of the inner chamber, modeled after a mosque in Cairo, and the remodeling of its gardens after the English design.
Thanks to protective measures taken during the 20th century, the Taj Mahal survived World War II and to the wars between Pakistan and India of 1965 and 1971.
Location of the Taj Mahal
TheTaj Mahal It is located in the city of Agra, in the Indian province of Uttar Pradesh. in the north of the country, and on the banks of the Yamuna River, one of the longest and largest tributaries of the famous Ganges River. This city is one of the most populated in the state and the country, and was the capital of the Mughal Empire between 1556 and 1658.
Architecture of the Taj Mahal
The design of the Taj Mahal did not correspond to a single person, but involved architect-builders of diverse origins. Among them are:
- Ustad Isa and Isa Muhammad Effendi, disciples of the great Ottoman architect Koca Mimar Sinan Agha.
- Puru from Benarus, Persian.
- Ismail Khan, Ottoman, designer of the dome.
- Qazim Khan of Lahore, molded the pinnacle of solid gold above the main dome of the mausoleum.
- Chiranjilal, an artisan from New Delhi, was responsible for the mosaics.
- Amanat Khan, a Persian from Shiráz, worked on calligraphy.
- Muhammad Hanif, of masonry.
- Mir Abdul Karim and Mukkarimat Khan, Iranians from Shiraz, were responsible for the financing and daily management of the work.
As a result of such a diversity of talents, the Taj Mahal uniquely combines typical elements of various traditions Islamic, Persian (Iranian), Indian and Ottoman (Turkish) architectural, sculptural and aesthetic.
Structure of the Taj Mahal
A plan of the Taj Mahal shows its various parts in perfect symmetry, incorporating the river itself into the majestically decorated areas of the monument. We can then speak of:
- The Moonlight Garden, on the opposite side of the Yamuna River.
- The four minarets or towers of the mosque, located on the banks of the river, next to the mausoleum.
- The mausoleum of Mamtaz Mahal, in the middle of the minarets.
- The Muslim mosque flanking the mausoleum, with the jabaz in the other side.
- The interior gardens or Charbaghdesigned to represent the garden of Eden.
- The access fort or Darwaza at the end of the interior garden.
- The external patios on the other side of the access fort.
- The main access esplanade in the middle of the external courtyards.
- The secondary tombs on the outside of the fort.
- The bazaar or Taj Ganji, outside the main entrance gate.
Construction of the Taj Mahal
The construction of the Taj Mahal involved the efforts of some 20,000 workersand consisted of continuous work over several stages. Firstly, the excavation of the foundations required filling 12,000 m2 with rubble to reduce river seepage and raising the surface to about fifteen metres above the level of the riverbank.
The traditional bamboo scaffolding of the time was replaced by brick scaffolding, both inside and outside the mausoleum walls. Building and dismantling the scaffolding took up a significant portion of the total construction time. The marble was transported along a 15km long rampin carts pulled by thirty or forty oxen.
The mausoleum It was built starting with the pedestal or basementthen the building with its dome, then the four minarets, then the mosque and the jawab, and finally the entrance fort. It took twelve years to build the first two parts, and the rest of the complex ten years more.
The black Taj
The legend tells that The initial project of the monument included the construction of a second mausoleum on the opposite bank of the river, of identical proportions but made of black marble, called the Black Taj. However, the monarch was dethroned by his sons before it was completed, leaving only the foundations on the other side of the river.
This version has been disproven, and it has been proven that The supposed bases of the Black Taj are actually part of the Garden of Moonlight, equipped with an octagonal pool in which the image of the dome could be seen reflected, thus preserving the symmetry that inspired the project. No black marble has been found anywhere nearby.
Other legends about the Taj Mahal
Many things are told about the Taj Mahal, most of them simple legends or rumors. Some examples are:
- That the monarch ordered the hands of the workers who made the monument to be cut off to prevent any other of similar beauty from ever being made.
- That the original monument included a set of gold leaves that covered the main dome, a golden railing that surrounded the cenotaphs, and other supposed elements stolen or lost over the centuries.
- That Lord Willam Bentinck, British governor of India in 1830, planned the demolition of the Taj Mahal to sell the marble from which it is made.
- That in reality the monument is a Hindu temple to the goddess Shiva, which was usurped and remodeled by the Islamic monarch.
Threats to the Taj Mahal
Curiously enough, the great contemporary threats to this architectural wonder do not come from wars or large-scale catastrophes, but from the slow action of human industry.
Pollution of the region by, among others, the Mathurā refinery, has led to an acid rain that seriously damages the facilities of the Taj Mahal. It causes cracks and darkening of the marble, which in turn has affected the foundations of the building and its magnificent dome.
Besides, certain political and bureaucratic disputes regarding property (Hindi or Muslim) of the building, makes it more difficult to undertake the preservation and repair work that would be necessary to restore it to its former splendor.
Importance of the Taj Mahal
Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore described the Taj Mahal as “a tear on the cheek of time,” due to its unique architecture and the story that accompanies its construction. It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1983.In addition, in 2007 it was chosen as one of the New Seven Wonders of the Modern World.