What is the Taj Mahal??
- The Taj Mahal is a mausoleum, or tomb, in Uttar Pradesh, India, that is constructed mainly of white marble.
- Shah Jahan, a Mughal Emperor, commissioned the Taj Mahal for his third wife and the building started the year after she died.
- The Taj Mahal was built between 1632-1653.
- The Taj Mahal is commonly viewed as a Muslim masterpiece and includes designs from Turkish, Islamic, Persian, and Indian architecture.
- The Taj Mahal became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1983, and is considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
Taj Mahal
Image courtesy of Hal Brindley/ Free Digital Photos
- At the Great Gate of the Taj Mahal there is calligraphy that says ‘O soul, thou art at rest, return to the Lord at peace with him, and he at peace with you’.
- The garden of the Taj Mahal is 30o meters (980 feet) square.
- By the 1800s parts of the Taj Mahal were badly damaged and restoration took place under the supervision of Lord Curzon, a British viceroy, which was completed in 1908.
- The wooden structure of the tomb in the Taj Mahal is rotting, which could possibly cause the tomb to collapse by 2016.
- Two million people visited the Taj Mahal in 2001.
Bibliography:
Taj Mahal, 2013 Wikipedia,<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taj_Mahal>
