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An extravagant marble monument of
love, built by Shahjahan in 1653 as a memorial to his queen Mumtaz Mahal
who died giving birth to their 14th child. White marble and red
sandstone, silver and gold, carenelian and jasper, moonstone and jade,
lapiz lazuli and coral were fashioned by 20, 000 skilled workers to make
the emperor's dream a reality. It took 22 years to complete - a poignant
symbol of eternal love where Shahjahan too lies buried, reunited at last
with his beloved Mumtaz.
Architecture of the Taj Mahal
It took 20,000 workmen twenty-two years (6132-1654) to build this
marvel of a marble tomb. Ustad Isa, a Persian architect is said to have
been the main designer of the Taj. Many others have figured as designers
and craftsmen for the Taj Mahal: Geronimo Veroneo the venetian
goldsmith; the silversmith Austin of Bordeaux, the Persians Ustad Ahmad
and Ustad Hamid and so on. But the biggest influence was Shah Jahan
himself.
The design of the monument is impressive: dating to the Omayyad
Mosque in Damascus,the Tomb of Timur Lane (Gur Amir) at Samarkhand, to
the relatively more recent Humayun’s and Khan Khanan’s tombs in
Delhi. A common perception of progression through the landscape led the
builders to a scheme of a traditional `char bagh’, a lucid Islamic
composition of frames and closures, of walls concealing and gates
revealing in a delicate balance of water, land and sky. |
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