Taj Mahal – The Temple of Love

Taj Mahal is a proof of what can be created because of love. The world’s most famous mausoleum, whose construction lasted over two decades, represents the eternal token of one’s husband love for his wife.

The monument, situated in Agra, a city on the banks of the Yamuna River in Uttar Pradesh, India, was built at the request of the fifth mogul emperor, Shah Jahan, in the memory of his second wife, Mumtaz Mahal, the Muslim Persian princes. The queen died after the birth of the 14th child, by her husband’s side, during the rebellions crushing campaigns from Burhanpur. Her death affected a lot the emperor that his hair turned white in just a couple of months. Before her last breath, Mumtaz asked the emperor four things: to build her a tomb, to remarry, love his sons and to visit her grave at her anniversary. The Emperor, at his wife’s death, lost not only a life partner, but also a clever and intelligent political adviser. Therefore, he had sworn that he would build a world’s greatest and matchless funerary edifice.

Taj Mahal is one of the New 7 Wonders of the world, and one of three World Heritage Sites in Agra, the others being Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri.

The mausoleum is a part of a vast complex comprising of a main gateway, a garden, a mosque, a guest house, and several other buildings.

The location of this symbol of eternal love on a white marble terrace highlights the huge dome and the four minarets. The interior is a small Paradise, where you become fascinated by the garden with artesian wells and you feel as floating on the alley guarded by ornamental trees.

Within the dome, there is the queen’s coffin, encrusted with precious stones. The interiors were so shiny that they have been described as being “designed” by giants and finished by jewelers. The only asymmetrical object from within the dome is the emperor’s coffin that was built next to the queen’s, few years later. The same marble is found also in the mortuary chamber, which presents sculptures with floral models. Although it is a tomb, it is real – special, floating between the sky and earth with its perfect symmetrical shapes and with the gardens around reflecting in the surrounding lake’s mirror.

The rushed looks will not be able to discover many of its secrets, however, attentive watchers will notice with admiration the glow of the numberless precious tones encrusted in marble, in the moonlight.

In East, the entire ensemble seems to be pink and in the evening white-pale. It is said that the change of colors matches lover’s state of spirit.

The paradise world from the interior of Taj Mahal is parted from the exterior world through a tall gate manufactured from massive silver and pinned with silver bolts, which, because of the weight, swank, being replaced with a brass one, far lighter.

The sublime is reaches through the decoration of the monuments with turquoises from Tibet, agates from Yemen, sapphires from Ceylon, amethysts from Persia, coral from Arabia, jade from China, malachite from Russia, pearls from the Indian Ocean. The performed floral motives have a special finesse. For example, an iris flower contains around 20 fragments of half-precious stones, and a poppy flower, 30. Next to these, a huge cupola in shape of a pearl will catch your eyes. It is necessary that you know a few elements from the mogul’s culture in order to understand the monument beyond the admiration for the exterior aspect. Therefore, you will discover that, for moguls, the pearl symbolizes the feminine charm, and the Taj Mahal is considered a “coronation of the Indian femininity”.

In front of these wonders, the tourists remain truly speechless.

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Some Taj Mahal pictures: