Taj Mahal counts as one
of the most beautiful buildings in India; it has the art of the Mughals and
shows us how the people pay a lot of time and money to build a beautiful
building would that least a long time. The Emperor Shah Jahan built the Taj
Mahal for the memory of his wife Arjumand Banu and queen Mumtaz Mahal ; on the
other hand, the other reason may be to build the Taj Mahal was a dream of
Emperor Shah Jahan. The Taj Mahal took a long time about sixteen years between
1632 until 1648 C.E. and the building was built in Agra in Northern India.
There were many workers who worked in the construction, about twenty thousand
workers and the cost of the building was around 32 million rupees.
Most of the material used
to build the Taj Mahal was provided from Asia which includes the white marble,
jasper, crystal, turquoise, lapis lazuli, sapphire, carnelian plus twenty eight
types of precious and semi precious stone placed with the white marble; the
material was transported using elephants. The designer of Taj Mahal Ustad Ahmad
Lahouri was the master architect. There was a change of the design of the Taj
Mahal when Shah Jahan asked to use the white marble with semi-precious stones
that give a change in the design. The design and architecture of the Taj Mahal
combines the Persian and early Mughal architecture. The hand of the
designer has been cut off in order to keep the design of the Taj Mahal secure
only for Mughals Emperor not to build the same building in other places. Shah
Jahan is the actual one who built the Taj Mahal. Northern India was the
source of the labour force with the need of calligraphers from Syria &
Persia, inlayers provided from southern India, stone cutters from Baluchistan. There
was a problem when they constructed a colossal brick scaffold which was how to
dismantle it in less time and this was solved when the Emperor Shah Jahan
declared that any worker can keep the bricks that they will take from the
scaffold.
The importance of my
topic shows when a lot of visitors visit the Taj the design of the Taj Mahal
from outside and inside tells us how architects in the past played a vital role
in building something good without the need of using computers, heavy equipment
and huge man power. In the past, the Taj Mahal meant a lot for Shah Jahan
the Emperor of Mughals as a memory for his wife; however, for today the Taj
Mahal is worth a huge value for India as a historical building and it
encourages visitor and architects to get a lesson in life and beauty.
Reference;
- 1. Manohar, U. (n.d.). The Taj Mahal: History and Facts. Buzzle. Retrieved April 30, 2013, from http://www.buzzle.com/articles/the-taj-mahal-history-and-facts.html
- 2. century, t. l., & 1857, p. o. (n.d.). Taj Mahal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved April 30, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taj_Mahal
- 3. Taj Mahal India. (n.d.). Taj Mahal India. Retrieved April 30, 2013, from http://www.tajmahal.com/
- 4. Taj Mahal - UNESCO World Heritage Centre. (n.d.). UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Retrieved April 30, 2013, from http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/252
- 5. Taj Mahal - Taj Mahal India - Taj Mahal Agra - Taj Mahal Travel- Taj Mahal Information - Tajmahal India. (n.d.). Taj Mahal - Taj Mahal India - Taj Mahal Agra - Taj Mahal Travel- Taj Mahal Information - Tajmahal India. Retrieved April 30, 2013, from http://www.tajmahal.org.uk/
- 6. Retrieved April 30, 2013, from http://www.raa.com.au/travel_blog.aspx?
