The Taj Mahal
The Taj Mahal
The Taj Mahal
is considered one of the 7 New Wonders of the World. It has long been on our
bucket list.
When we
first considered going on this World Cruise, India was on the itinerary.
However, it was dropped when it became dangerous to traverse the Suez Canal and
the Viking Sky had to go all the way around Africa instead. We decided that it
would be possible to visit the Taj by flying from Phuket to Delhi, doing a tour
of Agra where the Taj is located, and then rejoining the ship in Colombo, Sri
Lanka. Our friends Joe and Julie decided to join us.
After a
short Air India flight, we arrived in Delhi and set off for our hotel in a taxi.
The trip was only about 10 miles but took over an hour and a half due to the
choking traffic in the city. We checked in and discovered our rooms were HUGE.
Then, we
visited the hotel bar and were served by a 21 year-old bartender who appeared
to be about 12 tops!
But, we did have reserved seats. So, the train trip itself wasn’t too bad. Our guide met us at the station for the short trip to the site.
The Taj Mahal (lit. 'Crown of the Palace') is an ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was commissioned in 1631 by the fifth Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan (r. 1628–1658) to house the tomb of his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal; it also houses the tomb of Shah Jahan himself. The tomb is the centerpiece of a 42-acre complex, which includes a mosque and a guest house.
Construction
of the mausoleum was completed in 1648, but work continued on other phases of
the project for another five years. The first ceremony held at the mausoleum
was an observance by Shah Jahan, on 6 February 1643, of the 12th anniversary of
the death of Mumtaz Mahal. The Taj Mahal complex is believed to have been
completed in its entirety in 1653 at a cost estimated at the time to be
around ₹32 million, which in 2025 would be
approximately ₹72.8 billion (US$1 billion).
The building complex incorporates the design traditions of Indo-Islamic and Mughal architecture. It employs symmetrical constructions with the usage of various shapes and symbols. While the mausoleum is constructed of white marble inlaid with semi-precious stones, red sandstone was used for other buildings in the complex similar to the Mughal era buildings of the time. The construction project employed more than 20,000 workers and artisans under the guidance of a board of architects led by Ustad Ahmad Lahori, the emperor's court architect.
The Taj Mahal was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983 for being "the jewel of Islamic art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world's heritage". It is regarded as one of the best examples of Mughal architecture and a symbol of Indian history. The Taj Mahal is a major tourist attraction and attracts more than eight million visitors a year.
After our visit at the site, we had a short Indian lunch with our guide, and then set off for the stone factory to see how the inlays at the Taj Mahal were done. The mosaics contain flowers that are truly spectacular. Each one is completed by hand and can take from a few hours to several days to complete. The Taj Mahal contains approximately 4.2 million flowers! We each took a turn at grinding the individual pieces and using the tungsten picks to cut into the marble where they are fitted.
After that,
of course, we visited the gift shop where we found a picture frame with the
same mosaics to house our favorite photo of this mausoleum when we return home.
All in all,
it was a very memorable experience.
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