Taj Mahal

Kayque Stoffel

The Taj Mahal has been around for a long time people in India and all around the world enjoy visiting this beautiful mausoleum. The Taj Mahal is one of the world wonders it is a very important to the people of India because it represents the rich history of India. The Taj Mahal is very unique because of how it was built the fact that they built a mausoleum this big with the tools they had back then is truly amazing. The reason why the Taj Mahal was built also attracts a lot of people to go visit the Taj Mahal every year which is around 3 million a year. The Taj Mahal is known to be the jewel of Muslim art in India.

The beautiful story of the Taj Mahal began in Agra, India when the emperor of the Mughal empire, Shah Jahan married Mumtaz Mahal. When she died he was very upset which was very strange because historians say that most emperors back then had multiple wives, but Shah Jahan did not. He ordered his men to construct a big mausoleum in the memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal. It is said that Isa Mohammad was the chief designer of the Taj Mahal construction. There were over 22,000 people involved in the construction of the Taj Mahal. The construction of the Taj Mahal began in 1632 A.D. and was finished in 1648 A.D. This was just the mausoleum itself they finished the outer courtyard in 1653A.D. In all it took them 21 years to finish the construction of the Taj Mahal. Historians believe that the Italian designer Geronimo Veroneo designed the Taj Mahal, but they do not have solid evidence to back this up. They had over 20 architects working on the Taj Mahal. The Taj Mahal is located on the right bank of the Yamuna river in the massive Mughal garden.    

The were some incredible innovations that the planners and architects of emperor Shah Jahan did to build this mausoleum. Some of these innovations were where they placed the tomb. Emperor Shah Jahan ordered them to build the two towers on the side slightly slanted away from the mausoleum to make sure that if there were any natural disasters they would fall away from the mausoleum and not destroy it. They placed it at one end of the garden instead of placing it in the center of the garden. Which added a different perspective view from a distance of the monument. The Taj Mahal is also protected by the UNESCO. UNESCO is a specialized agency of the United Nations which is based in Paris. The Indian government provides funds for the conservation, preservation, and maintenance of the Taj Mahal. This mausoleum is unique and beautiful I’m glad that they are protecting the Taj Mahal the way they are.           

   

  

Work cited:

Shane, Tasker. “Taj Mahal: Monument to love.” World History.Jan. 2008. http://ezproxy.usca.edu:2048/url

Kim, Uden. “Beneath a Marble Sky: A Novel of the Taj Mahal.” Beneath a Marble Sky Jun. 2004. http://ezproxy.usca.edu:2048/url  

Doraiswamy, Uma. “Taj Mahal: Passion and Genius at the Heart of the Moghul Empire.” Taj Mahal Feb. 2007.http://ezproxy.usca.edu:2048/url 

“Taj Mahal”. History Channel, 2015. http://www.history.com/topics/taj-mahal 

Links for further research:

Taj Mahal

http://ezproxy.usca.edu:2048  

This article mentions the Mughal empire and the influence they had in building the Taj Mahal.

Taj Mahal: Monument to Love

http://ezproxy.usca.edu:2048/url 

This article mentions the reason why the Taj Mahal was built. 

Taj Mahal: Wonders of the World

http://ezproxy.usca.edu:2048/url 

This article talks about the main information people need to know about the Taj Mahal. 

Five Tags:

Taj Mahal, Mughal empire, Mausoleum, Shah Jahan, Agra

Taj Mahal

Author: Keyana Logan

 E. de Gracia Camara, 2008.
A front view picture Taj Mahal

 The Taj Mahal of Agra, India is one of the Seven Wonders of the World, for reasons more than just appearing magnificent. The history of the Taj Mahal increases the heart to the magnificence. A heart that is filled with passion, regrets, and more love. If it were not for love the world would not be the same but, most important the Taj Mahal would not be here. A model of how profoundly a man adores his wife, that even after she abides but reminiscence, he made sure that this memory would never fade away. This man was the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, who was head-over-heels in love with Mumtaz Mahal, his dear wife. Mumtaz Mahal was a Muslim Persian princess and Jahan’s dad was an emperor. It was at the age of 14 that he met Mumtaz and fell in love with her. Five years later in the year 1612, they got married (Ahmed). Mumtaz Mahal died in 1631, while giving birth to their 14^th child. It was in the memory of his beloved wife that Shah Jahan built a magnificent monument as a tribute to her, which today known as the "Taj Mahal".

A video showing different pictures of the Taj Mahal

The Taj Mahal is located on the right bank of the Yamuna River in a vast Mughal garden that encompasses nearly 17 hectares, in the Agra District in Uttar Pradesh. The monument, begun in 1632, was finished in 1648, unverified but nonetheless, tenacious; legends attribute its construction to an international team of several thousands of masons, marble workers, mosaicists and decorators working under the orders of the architect of the emperor, Ustad Ahmad Lahori. The Taj Mahal's pure white marble shimmers silver in the moonlight, glows softly pink at dawn, and at close of day reflects the fiery tints of the setting Sun (“Taj Mahal”). However, the Taj Mahal can be seen not only as a mausoleum for the empress but, also as the glorious climax of Mughal architecture in India.

            In a matter of time, something that is full with love and a magnificent monument can turn into such a bad thing.  Preservationists say the 350-year-old marble masterpiece is falling prey to shoddy repair work, graffiti, air pollution, and even a deteriorating foundation. The Indian press has been filled with reports that the latest government efforts to control pollution around the Taj are failing and that the gorgeous white marble is deteriorating a possible casualty of India's booming population, rapid economic expansion and lax environmental regulations. Some local preservationists, echoing the concerns of R. Nath, an Indian historian who has written extensively about the Taj, warn that the edifice is in danger of sinking or even collapsing toward the river. They also complain that the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has done slipshod repair work and call for fresh assessments of the structure's foundations (Bartholet). All good things end.

            Will the Taj Mahal really collapse in five years? Both the Indian MP and the historian quoted by the daily say it is a false alarm though there are such fears due to the drying of the Yamuna River. It is a 50/50 chance that the Taj Mahal will collapse. Architects have been expressing fears that a dry river could pose a threat to the Taj Mahal (Khandelwal). After researching the Taj Mahal I will end by saying the beautiful monument has a while before it actually collapse.

Works Cited:

"Taj Mahal." UNESCO World Heritage Centre. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2012. <http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/252>.

Ahmed, Akbar. "The Taj Mahal." History Today 43.5 (1993): 62. Academic Search Premier. Web. 15 Oct. 2012.

Bartholet, Jeffrey. "WHAT AILS THE TAJ MAHAL? (Cover Story)." Smithsonian 42.5 (2011): 44-57. Academic Search Premier. Web. 15 Oct. 2012.

Khandelwal, Brij. "Will the Taj Mahal collapse in 5 years?." South Asian Post 20 Oct. 2011: 17. Newspaper Source Plus. Web. 17 Oct. 2012.

Links for further research:

Taj Mahal

http://www.tajmahal.gov.in/

The official Taj Mahal site.

History

http://www.tajmahal.org.uk/history.html

History of the Taj Mahal and when it was first built.

Architecture

http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/Culture/Archit/TajM.html

The architecture and history on the Taj Mahal.