The Magnificient Taj Mahal  

It has been several days and we can’t stop thinking of the pure white image of the magnificent Taj Mahal. We have left Agra and are saddened that we won’t be seeing The Taj Mahal again anytime soon. The Taj Mahal is the most breathtaking, most extravagant and an unbelievable architectural masterpiece. Most people, as we did, have a difficult time giving an adequate description to their visual experience. As you will tell from the photos that we took, we wanted to capture the image of the Taj Mahal forever in our minds.

The Taj was built by Emperor Shah Jahan as a memorial of enduring love for his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died giving birth to their fourteenth child in 1631. The death of his wife left the emperor so heartbroken that he promised Mumtaz prior to her death that he would build a memorial. A renowned Islam architect’s (Ustad Isa Khan) design was chosen and construction of the Taj began in the same year. It was not completed until 1653, 22 years later. In total, 20,000 people from India and Central Asia worked on the 3 main buildings and gardens including specialists from as far as Europe. The most impressive design was the exquisite finely cut marble screens and marble inlay work made with 43 different types of semi precious and precious stones including diamonds and rubies. It’s domes and arches are embellished with scriptures from the Holy Quran.

We arranged a private tour guide who willingly provided us with information on the intricacies of the design and the history of the Mughal Empire during that time. As we first set our eyes upon the Taj from the main entrance, we were captivated. We wanted to see it from all sides, which are exactly uniform. The symmetry of the architecture was perfect from every angle. We were there for over 3 hours and couldn’t stop looking at it. As with many tourists who experience seeing the Taj Mahal, we wanted to sit in silence and make a lasting imprint of this pure beautiful image into our hearts and minds.