DID YOU KNOW?

The TAJ MAHAL is an ivory-white mausoleum on the south bank of the amua River in th Indian city of Agra.  It was commissioned in 1632 by the Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan (reigned 1628-1648), to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal.  The tomb is the centrepiece of a 42-acre complex. which includes a mosque and a guest house, and is set in formal gardens bounded on three sides by a crenellated walls.

Construction of the mausoleum was essentially completed in 1643 but work continued on other phases of the project for another 10 years.  The Taj Mahal is believed to have been completed in its entirety in 1653 at a cost estimated at the time to be around 32 million rupees which in 2015 would be approximately 52.8 rupees (US$827 million).  The construction project employed some 20,000 partisans under the guidance of a board of architects led by the court architect to the emperor, Ustad Ahmad Lahauri.

The Taj Mahal was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983 for being "the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world's heritage".  Described by Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore as "the tear-drop on the cheek of time", it is regarded by many as the best example of Mughal architecture and a symbol of India's rich history.  The Taj Mahal atracts 7-8 million visitors a year.  In 2007, it was declared a winner of the New 7 Wonders of the world (2000-2007) initiative.

Mumtaz Mahal was a Persian princess who died giving birth to their 14th child, Gauhara Begum.  The Imperial Court documented Shah Jahan's grief after the death of Mumtaz Maha  as illustrating the love story held as the inspiration for Taj Mahal.

Muslim tradition forbids elaborate decoration of graves.  Hence the bodies of Mumtaz and Shah Jahan were put in a relatively plain crypt beneath the inner chamber with their faces turned right towards Mecca.  Mumtaz Mahal's cenotaph is placed at the precise centre of the inner chamber on a rectangular marble base of 1.5 by 2.5 metres. Both the base and casket are elaborately inlaid with precious and semi-precious stones.  Calligraphic inscriptions on the casket identify and praise Mumtaz.  On the lid of the casket is a raised rectangular lozenge meant to suggest a writing tablet,  Shah Jahan's cenotaph is beside Mumtaz's to the western side and is the only visible asymmetric element in the entire complex.  His cenotaph is bigger than his wife's, but reflects the same elements: a larger casket on a slightly taller base precisely decorated with lapidary and calligraphy that identifies him.  On the lid of the basket is a traditional sculpture of a small pen box.

I would suggest checking out some of the beautiful tiling, calligraphy etc shown on Wikipedia.  There is far too much for me to show here and it is well worth looking at the sheer beauty of it all.