information about Taj Mahal
Answers
SOME INTERESTING FACTS YOU NEED TO KNOW :
→The name Taj Mahal means “crown of palaces”.
→It has Islamic calligraphy inscriptions all over.
→The architecture of Taj Mahal is a combination of Islamic, Persian and Indian style.
→The Taj Mahal is one of the new seven wonders of the world.
→It is estimated that the construction project had 22,000 laborers and 1000 elephants working on the site.
→It changes its colour depending on the amount of light and time. In the sense, it would appear to be pinkish in the morning, milky white in the evening and golden in the moonlight.
→The Taj Mahal is taller than Qutub Minar (with a difference of five feet).
→A lamp inside the Taj Mahal has Lord Curzon’s name inscribed on it.
→The British had no plans of destroying the Taj Mahal.
Answer:
1. The Taj Mahal was built by a whopping 22,000 laborers, painters, stonecutters, embroidery artists.
2. Legend has it that Emperor Shah Jahan intended to build another Taj Mahal in black marble across the river but a war with his sons interrupted these plans.
3. The changing moods of the Emperors wife are well captured by the changing hues of the Mausoleum at different times of the day. It takes a pinkish hue in the morning, milky white in the evening and golden at night when illuminated by moonlight.
4. It intricate work of art and architectural genius took 17 years to complete.
5. The most recognizable feature is the white dome at the peak of the mausoleum. Often called the 'onion dome', it rises to about 35 meters (115 feet) and is surrounded by four other domes.
6. Taj Mahal is a famous Indian landmark and tourist magnet, attracting more than a million tourists every year.
7. As always, rumor mills are on the overdrive about this mausoleum. It is rumored that the Emperor ordered that all the workers who worked on the mausoleum get their hands chopped of so that no one could make anything like it ever again.
8. If it was to be built today, Taj Mahal would cost the Emperor about US$100 to make it as beautiful as it is.
9. The materials that were used to build Taj Mahal were transported to the construction site by a whopping 1,000 elephants.
10. Many of the precious stones on the mausoleum were ripped off from the walls of the mausoleum by the British army during the Indian rebellion of 1857.
Taj Mahal is indeed a beautiful place. When you visit, make sure you take a picture of yourself and your spouse with the mausoleum as the background...who knows, the love that the emperor had for his wife to dedicate this kind of resources for her remembrance after death might rub off on you.