What Year Was The Taj Mahal Built ?
The Taj Mahal, which signifies the love of Emperor Shah Jehan and his wife Mumtaz Mahal, is located on the banks of River Yamuna in Agra. It took 22 years to built this beautiful and appealing structure. The construction started in 1632 and was finished by 1653. Thousands of craftsmen and architects were hired to complete it. |
The Moghal Empire was very prosperous during Shah Jehan’s rule. However, the emperor was grief stricken when his 3rd wife, Mumtaz Mahal, died while giving birth to their fourteenth child. The inspiration to build Taj Mahal came from the love story of the emperor and his wife.
The main feature, which is the mausoleum, was finished in the year 1648, and the remaining buildings were completed after five years. The traditional mausoleum was built using Persian Architecture. It also mixes the classic Moghal architecture. Several features of the Timurid, Gur E Amir, Humayun’s Tomb, and Jama Masjid were incorporated into the Taj Mahal. Most of the Moghal buildings were constructed using red stone, but Shah Jehan promoted the usage of marble and it was inlaid with precious stones. The idea of laying precious stones into white marble gave a whole new dimension to the construction of tomb.
During the medieval times, Agra was a walled city. Taj Mahal was built at the corner on a parcel of land. The land belonged to Maharaja Jai Singh, and Shah Jahan gifted a huge palace situated in the middle of Agra in lieu of the land. Nearly 3 acres of land was excavated and then filled with mud to avoid seepage. For making the foundation of the tomb, workers first dug wells and then filled them stones and rubble. To work at heights, the workers built scaffolding out of bricks instead of bamboo. They were so huge that people thought it would take many years to take the scaffolding apart. However, the emperor announced that anybody can come and take the bricks, and so the peasants of the area cleared them overnight.
Hundred of oxen were used to pull water out of the river, and thousands of elephants were used to carry the marbles. The white marbles were brought in from Makrana in Rajasthan. Several semi precious stones, such as jade, lapis lazuli, crystal, sapphire, turquoise, and carnelian were used to set in the marble. Stones were brought in from Sri Lanka, Tibet, Afghanistan and China. The highest quality of gem stones was used to set in the marble. Every single stone was checked for perfection in form and quality.
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Wikipedia: Taj Mahal
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taj_Mahal
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Taj Mahal, a UNESCO World Heritage site and deemed as one of the seven wonders of the world, can seen in the Indian city of Agra. It is considered as the epitome of love and devotion. Agra is in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, and is close to India’s capital, Delhi. During the Moghal rule, Agra was a very powerful city. The city has been mentioned in great epics, such as the Mahabharata, and also was the capital of the Moghal Empire during the medieval times. The emperors, who ruled the empire from 1526 to 1658, were Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan.