The Taj Mahal is India's most famous structure, and perhaps the most beautiful piece of architecture in the world. It is one of the "Seven Wonders” of the modern world, including the recently announced “New Seven Wonders of the World”(New 7). The Taj Mahal is built on the bank of the Yamuna River, slightly more than a mile to the east of Agra, India. Made with purest white marble, the Taj Mahal’s massive central dome, the four slender minarets, the shimmering tomb, the long reflective pool, the manicured garden – all seem too unreal, and perhaps too beautiful for adequate description and proper appreciation. But there is more to the Taj than its amazing beauty.

The Taj Mahal celebrates one of the greatest love stories of all time – that of the seventeenth-century Mogul emperor, Shah Jahan, and his beloved and favorite wife and queen, Mumtaz Mahal. As a sixteen year old prince (and future king) fell in love with Mumtaz at his first sight and defied convention by seeking her hand in marriage; he waited five years for their wedding. In their nineteen years of lovely happy married life, Mumtaz gave Shah Jahan fourteen children. Her death in childbirth in “1631” (Origin) left Shah Jahan wild with grief, but it made him determined to build history’s finest monument to show the love for his wife.

Built as a tomb (grave) for his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal, the Taj Mahal reveals the most attractive aspect of Shah Jahan’s character: his romanticism. The most fascinating thing for me is that the Taj Mahal is just a grave and yet so much more, the glory of the Taj Mahal takes the breath away every time you visit.



Image 2 (Tanenhaus)

The features of the Taj Mahal contain: the base, the tomb, the central chamber, the main dome, the four minarets, exterior and interior decoration, a long reflecting pool and the paradise garden. “The base structure is a large, multi-chambered structure. It is roughly 55 meters on each side. The base is essentially a cube with chamfered edges. On the long sides, a massive vaulted archway frames the arch with a similar arch-shaped balcony.

On either side of the main arch, additional vaulted archways are stacked above and below. This motif of stacked archways is repeated on chamfered corners as well. The design is completely symmetrical on all sides of the building. The four minarets (large towers) that stand at each corner of the plinth (the base), facing the chamfered corners frame the tomb. The main chamber houses the false sarcophagi of Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan; their actual graves are at a lower level (The tomb).

The tomb is the main feature of the Taj Mahal and is a testimony to Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal’s devotion for each other. “It is placed at the precise center of the central chamber with a stand on a 1.5 meter by 2.5 meter of square cube plinth consisting of a symmetrical building with an arch, an arch-shaped doorway, and a large dome on top” (The tomb).



Image 3 (Calligraphy)

The tomb is made of the purest crystal white marble plaques and so finely worked that it might be thought that they were carved in ivory. These marble plaques are surrounded with little garlands of tulips, fuchsias, and other native Indian flowers inlaid with 28 types of precious and semiprecious gems including turquoise, topaz, and lapis lazuli. Calligraphic inscriptions on the casket identify and praise Mumtaz.



Image 4 (interior of the central dome)

The central chamber is seventy-five feet high, which encloses the tomb. Here there is nothing but the most superb simplicity, only a great white splendor. It should be dark here, but it is as light as if the whiteness is self-illuminating as if this great carved sky of marble has a transparence. There is nothing on the wall but veins of pearly gray and a few faintly outlined arches. Around the pediment, however, there is a border of great lilies sculptured in bold relief with inlaid precious gems. Their stacks seem to spring out of the ground, and the marble flowers look as if their petals were about to fall.



Image 4 (Stones)

The huge bulbous white crystal marble dome is one of the major focal points of the Taj Mahal. The main dome is placed in the exact center of the building. Its height is about the same size as the base of the building. The top is decorated with a lotus design, which accentuates its height as well. The main dome is crowned by a gilded finial. “The finial, made of gold until the early 1800s, is now made of bronze” (History). The minarets display the Taj Mahal's symmetry. Each minaret is effectively divided into three equal parts by two working balconies that rings the tower. At the top of the tower is a final balcony surmounted by a chattri (umbrella shaped feature) that mirrors the design of those on the tomb. The minaret chattris share the same finishing touches: a lotus design on top of the gilded finial.

Large forms are used in the minarets in compare to the small garlands on the surface of the tomb. It includes incised painting of flowers, fruits and vines carved in the marble. The decorative scheme of the Taj Mahal combines calligraphic, floral and abstract geometric motifs. Three types of media are used to create these patterns: stone carving, painted stucco and inlaid gem stone.

Taj Mahal’s lower walls of the interior chambers are decorated with a series of dados (decorative marble panels. It’s exterior and interior surfaces are entirely covered with inlaid designs in thirty-five varieties of semi-precious and precious stones and its portals are framed by intricate is calligraphic inscription. Inside the mausoleum, the tone is more reassuring in places, with lengthy descriptions of Paradise adorning some of the walls. Its formal gardens are great example of a landscape architect’s craft. Halfway between the tomb and the gateway, there is a raised marble water tank at the center of the garden; a reflecting pool on the North-South axis reflects the image of the Taj Mahal.



Image 5 (Dados)

For twenty-two years, twenty-thousand men and women labored day and night to give form to the emperor shah Jahan’s majestic vision. Taj Mahal is a massive marble structure and yet weightless like a feather; perfectly rational and yet purely decorative. The Taj is like a castle built in the air; it seems so light, it seems so airy. When seen from a distance, it is like a fabric of mist even after you have touched it and climbed to its summit, you almost doubt its reality.



Image 6 (the Taj Mahal)

The Taj Mahal acquires a different hue at different time of the day. You might have seen Taj Fifteen times but when you return back to see it Sixteenth time, you will find it something different from the earlier visit. The Taj at noon, the Taj at sunset, under the full moon, against the setting sun, and against the rising ball of fire, each time the mausoleum acquires a different accent and tells a different story. Whichever story it tells, there is certain vulnerability, softness about the Taj Mahal that always touches the visitors.

The Taj truly is, like a poem. It is not only a pure architectural type, but also a creation which satisfies the imagination!



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