One of the most famous, beautiful and famous architectural monuments in the world is the magnificent Taj Mahal, a masterpiece of Asian medieval art. A great many people from all over the world come to see this miracle. Where is the Taj Mahal located?
Where is the Taj Mahal mausoleum and when was it built?
Taj Mahal was built in the middle of the 17th century by order of Shah Jahan, a ruler from the Mughal dynasty, in memory of his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal. The large city of Agra, with a population of about 2 million people, located in the northern part of India, about 200 kilometers south of the capital of the country - Delhi, for a long time (until 1658) was the capital of the Mughal dynasty, who conquered India in 1525. Therefore, it was in this city that the ruler Shah Jahan, who grieved over the death of his beloved wife, ordered to build a grandiose mosque in her honor, which at the same time was supposed to become the final resting place of Mumtaz Mahal. Construction began in the early 30s of the 17th century, and was completed in 1652 (according to other sources, in 1653).
The site was chosen on the banks of the Jamna River to the south of the fortress wall surrounding Agra. According to the surviving information, it is known that almost 20 thousand people were employed in the construction of the Taj Mahal.
The enormity of the construction can be judged by the fact that the plot of land allocated for the mausoleum was artificially raised almost 50 meters above the river level to protect the structure from floods.
What the Taj Mahal is famous for
The erected structure turned out to be truly magnificent. The mausoleum with a large central and four small corner domes, reaching a height of 74 meters, is located on a large beautiful platform, with 4 high minarets. Its walls are faced with white marble with skillful carving and inlaid with semi-precious and ornamental stones - turquoise, malachite, agate, carnelian. For the cladding, the best varieties of marble were used, which have a characteristic feature: during the day, under the bright rays of the southern sun, it appears dazzling white, at sunrise or sunset - pale pink, and at night, in the moonlight - silvery.
Visitors to the mausoleum can see the tombs of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal.
More precisely, there are tombstones in the mausoleum, and the former ruler and his wife are buried deep underground.
The mausoleum is adjoined by a very beautiful park with swimming pools, in perfect harmony with the Taj Mahal and emphasizing its magnificence.
Mausoleum-Palace Taj Mahal is the main attraction of Agra. But in this city there are many other interesting objects, for example, the famous Red Fortress (the former residence of the Great Mughals), the Itimad-ud-Daula mausoleum, the Akbar mosque.
