Taj Mahal - The most wonderful building in the world.

        ^{It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the seven wonders of the modern world, is located in Agra, a city in India, and is visited by more than three million people a year. This monument is actually an ancient mausoleum where the remains of the Mughal monarch, Shah Jahan and his wife Mumtaz Mahal rest.}

        ^{Prince Shah Jahan met a young princess named Arjumand Bano Begum, when she was only 15 years old, to conquer her he gave her a diamond necklace valued at Rs.10,000, he hand-picked her to become one of his wives, but because of the girl's young age he had to wait five years to marry her.}

      ^{She was his fourth wife and, his favorite, and he loved her deeply, he gave her the title of "Mumtaz Mahal" which means "chosen of palace", which made her the first lady of the empire, with her he had fourteen children during 19 years of marriage, until he died during a birth. As a last wish, she asked her husband to be good to her children, to remarry, to build a sublime tomb for her and to visit her once a year on the anniversary of her death.}

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        ^{The new king fell into a deep depression and dedicated the rest of his life to fulfilling the will of his deceased beloved, he ordered the construction of the Taj Mahal complex of buildings as a mausoleum, whose name means "crown of the palace", he wanted to build the most beautiful building ever seen, for which he summoned the best architects of India, Persia and Asia.}

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-The most perfect building in the world.- ▾

        ^{Shah Jahan decided that the banks of the Yamuna River would be the ideal place to erect a heavenly monument in honor of its queen, from all corners of the continent came workers to work, piece work on the work, for a total of 20,000, including craftsmen, sculptors, jewelers, carvers and slaves.}

        ^{From the religious point of view, it is the representation of heaven on earth, the white color of the marble that covers it represents the spiritual illumination and the faith of the person buried there. No other mausoleum can compare to the Taj Mahal in proportions, beauty and elegance, no expense was spared for this luxurious project.}

-Taj Mahal curious facts.- ▾

^{The entire construction took 12 years to be completed.}

^{Shah Jahan was going to build a black replica of the Taj Mahal for himself, but he did not succeed because he was deposed from the throne by one of his sons and imprisoned until the day of his death.}

^{The central gardens are the representation of the paradise described in the Qur'an.}

^{Depending on the time of day and sunlight, it may change color to pinkish in the early morning, bright white in the morning and golden brown in the evening.}

^{According to one legend, the architects had their hands cut off as soon as the work was ready so that they would never make another one to match it.}

^{1,000 elephants were involved in the construction, their job being to transport the marble rocks from the quarries to the construction site over distances of 400 kilometres.}

^{The walls are inlaid with precious and semi-precious stones in mosaic form.}

^{Verses from the Qur'an are written on the white marble walls referring to justice, paradise and hell.}

^{Since 2006, its surroundings have been guarded by the army permanently by terrorist threats.}

^{Only outdoor spaces may be photographed, the use of all types of audio visual equipment is prohibited inside the building.}

^{The white marble on which it is currently built has been turned yellow by environmental pollution, and the Indian government has ordered that only electric vehicles circulate around the monument.}

Source of external resources.

Reference source: National Geographic Documentary hosted on Youtube 47 minutes long.
Images: Cover, mandala, painting 1, painting 2, painting 3, Taj Mahal 2, Taj Mahal 3,
Taj Mahal 4.

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"Love is the emblem of eternity, confuses the notion of time, erases all memory of a beginning, all fear of an end.".

^{-Germaine de Staël.}

The Taj Mahal is a symbol of eternal love, a poem in stone, the legacy of Shah Jahan to Indian culture and humanity.

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