The Taj Mahal is a monument located in Agra in India, constructed between 1631 and 1654 by a workforce of 20,000. The Muslim Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan commissioned its construction as a mausoleum for his favourite wife, Arjumand Bano Begum, who is better known as Mumtaz Mahal.
The Taj Mahal is generally considered the finest example of Mughal architecture, a style that combines elements of Indian, Persian architecture and Turkish architecture
2006-06-14 02:03:22
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answer #1
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answered by Anonymous
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Taj Mahal is a world famous monument located in Agra, in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. The origin of the name Taj Mahal is not certain. Court histories from Mughal Emperor, Shah Jahan's reign call it the rauza (tomb and mosque complex) of Mumtaz Mahal. It is generally believed that Taj Mahal (literally translated as "Crown Palace" or "Crown of the Palace") is an abbreviated version of Mumtaz Mahal's name. Today, it is sometimes simply and evocatively referred to as - The Taj. The Taj Mahal, as of 1983, is an UNESCO World Heritage Site and a major tourist destination. The Taj Mahal was constructed using materials from all over India and Asia. Over 1,000 elephants were used to transport building materials during the construction.
for more information visit the below site:
http://www.haryana-online.com/taj_mahal.htm
2006-06-19 23:59:34
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answer #2
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answered by Anonymous
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Taj Mahal is a famous building made by Shah Jahan he made it for her wife Mumtaz Mahal Taj Mahal is made up of marbles and it is a very beautiful thing to see when Taj mahal and Red Fort was built Shah Jahan cut the hands of the laborours so that no one else can make them again.
2006-06-15 00:28:15
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answer #3
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answered by Rupal 2
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Taj mahal is in Agra India. Taj mahal is made in the memory of mumtaz by shahazahen
2006-06-14 20:04:03
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answer #4
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answered by geekay 3
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Well Here in the United States we have a taj mahal!! Its a casino in Atlantic city, New jersey! Owned by Donald trump! I dont know much about the one in India, sorry.
2006-06-14 02:03:24
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answer #5
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answered by SO In LOVE 3
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Taj Mahal is a Blues/Jazz band or a palace in India-take your pick.
2006-06-14 02:01:59
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answer #6
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answered by Anonymous
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A white marble tomb built in 1631-48 in Agra, seat of the Mugal Empire, by Shah Jehan for his wife, Arjuman Banu Begum, the monument sums up many of the formal themes that have played through Islamic architecture. Its refined elegance is a conspicuous contrast both to the Hindu architecture of pre-Islamic India, with its thick walls, corbeled arches, and heavy lintels, and to the Indo-Islamic styles, in which Hindu elements are combined with an eclectic assortment of motifs from Persian and Turkish sources."
—Marvin Trachtenberg and Isabelle Hyman. Architecture: from Prehistory to Post-Modernism. p223.
"The Mausoleum of the Taj Mahal at Agra stands in a formally laid-out walled garden entered through a pavilion on the main axis. The tomb, raised on a terrace and first seen reflected in the central canal, is entirely sheathed in marble, but the mosque and counter-mosque on the transverse axis are built in red sandstone. The four minarets, set symmetrically about the tomb, are scaled down to heighten the effect of the dominant, slightly bulbous dome. The mosques, built only to balance the composition are set sufficiently far away to do no more than frame the mausoleum. In essence, the whole riverside platform is a mosque courtyard with a tomb at its centre. The great entrance gate with its domed central chamber, set at the end of the long watercourse, would in any other setting be monumental in its own right."
"The interior of the building is dimly lit through pierced marble lattices and contains a virtuoso display of carved marble. Externally the building gains an ethereal quality from its marble facings, which respond with extraordinary subtlety to changing light and weather."
2006-06-14 02:03:03
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answer #7
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answered by Bolan 6
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Taj Mahal is a well-known sculpture in India and Shah Jahan built it 2 show how much luv he has for his wife, Mumtaz Mahal. since that day pple go there and show their luv 2 their wifez, gurlfrends watever
2006-06-14 08:33:34
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answer #8
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answered by Anonymous
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Agra, once the capital of the Mughal Empire during the 16th and early 18th centuries, is one and a half hours by express train from New Delhi. Tourists from all over the world visit Agra not to see the ruins of the red sandstone fortress built by the Mughal emperors but to make a pilgrimage to Taj Mahal, India’s most famous architectural wonder, in a land where magnificent temples and edificies abound to remind visitors about the rich civilization of a country that is slowly but surely lifting itself into an industrialized society.
The postcard picture of Taj Mahal does not adequately convey the legend, the poetry and the romance that shroud what Rabindranath Tagore calls "a teardrop on the cheek of time". Taj Mahal means "Crown Palace" and is in fact the most well preserved and architecturally beautiful tomb in the world. It is best described by the English poet, Sir Edwin Arnold, as "Not a piece of architecture, as other buildings are, but the proud passions of an emperor’s love wrought in living stones." It is a celebration of woman built in marble and that’s the way to appreciate it.
Taj Mahal stands on the bank of River Yamuna, which otherwise serves as a wide moat defending the Great Red Fort of Agra, the center of the Mughal emperors until they moved their capital to Delhi in 1637. It was built by the fifth Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan in 1631 in memory of his second wife, Mumtaz Mahal, a Muslim Persian princess. She died while accompanying her husband in Burhanpur in a campaign to crush a rebellion after giving birth to their 14th child. The death so crushed the emperor that all his hair and beard were said to have grown snow white in a few months.
When Mumtaz Mahal was still alive, she extracted four promises from the emperor: first, that he build the Taj; second, that he should marry again; third, that he be kind to their children; and fourth, that he visit the tomb on her death anniversary. He kept the first and second promises. Construction began in 1631 and was completed in 22 years. Twenty thousand people were deployed to work on it. The material was brought in from all over India and central Asia and it took a fleet of 1000 elephants to transport it to the site. It was designed by the Iranian architect Ustad Isa and it is best appreciated when the architecture and its adornments are linked to the passion that inspired it. It is a "symbol of eternal love".
The Taj rises on a high red sandstone base topped by a huge white marble terrace on which rests the famous dome flanked by four tapering minarets. Within the dome lies the jewel-inlaid cenotaph of the queen. So exquisite is the workmanship that the Taj has been described as "having been designed by giants and finished by jewellers". The only asymmetrical object in the Taj is the casket of the emperor which was built beside the queen’s as an afterthought. The emperor was deposed by his son and imprisoned in the Great Red Fort for eight years but was buried in the Taj. During his imprisonment, he had a view of the Taj.
As a tribute to a beautiful woman and as a monument for enduring love, the Taj reveals its subtleties when one visits it without being in a hurry. The rectangular base of Taj is in itself symbolic of the different sides from which to view a beautiful woman. The main gate is like a veil to a woman’s face which should be lifted delicately, gently and without haste on the wedding night. In indian tradition the veil is lifted gently to reveal the beauty of the bride. As one stands inside the main gate of Taj, his eyes are directed to an arch which frames the Taj.
The dome is made of white marble, but the tomb is set against the plain across the river and it is this background that works its magic of colours that, through their reflection, change the view of the Taj. The colours change at different hours of the day and during different seasons. Like a jewel, the Taj sparkles in moonlight when the semi-precious stones inlaid into the white marble on the main mausoleum catch the glow of the moon. The Taj is pinkish in the morning, milky white in the evening and golden when the moon shines. These changes, they say, depict the different moods of woman.
Different people have different views of the Taj but it would be enough to say that the Taj has a life of its own that leaps out of marble, provided you understand that it is a monument of love. As an architectural masterpiece, nothing could be added or substracted from it.
2006-06-20 07:48:54
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answer #9
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answered by Ayush S 2
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taj mahal is a great monument which shah jahan biult it in agra in india as the love remark of mumtazmahal (her wife) and when ever he see that he will be able to remember mumtazmahal it is also one of the 7 wonders of the world
2006-06-14 04:28:06
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answer #10
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answered by Anonymous
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