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| The Taj Mahal! Overwhelmingly beautiful! Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan built this as a memorial for his wife, Mumtaz in 1653. |
At last it happened on 18th March, '17! I had been dreaming of visiting the Taj Mahal for so many years now and it was like a dream come true! I was just standing on the platform and gaping, really gaping at it for many minutes! I was expecting it to be an old/ancient monument now, hearing so many stories about it becoming dull because of pollution etc. Though the monument is given mud pack etc. for cleaning it, part by part, it looked good for me even now. Work is still going on, you can notice from the minaret being covered with scaffolding. Detailed story with more photographs will come later, in another post!
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| A close up shot of the Taj! People look so tiny beside the structure! |
We visited this place twice that day, once in the morning and again in the evening. Visited the Baby Taj in the afternoon. The entrance to the Baby Taj was beautiful and seeing the main building, I was stunned by its beauty. I felt it was the most beautiful building I have ever seen! Lot of intricate art work could be seen on the walls ...Hmmm...I had taken many many pictures of the beautiful designs in my Mi5 mobile, but it was stolen that evening at the Taj Mahotsav festival there near the Taj:( The camera was very good in that mobile...
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| 'Mausoleum of Itmad-ud-Daulah' Agra....the most beautiful building! Every inch is with beautiful designs carved and studded with coloured gemstones. This was built by another Mughal Emperor Jahangir's wife, Nur Jahan for her father around 1628. |
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| A close-up shot of the tomb! This is called the 'Jewel Box', 'Baby Taj' and also as the 'Taj of Deccan'! | |
This is also described as a draft of the Taj Mahal. The walls are made up from white marble brought from Rajasthan encrusted with semi-precious stone decorations like cornelian, jasper, lapis lazuli, onyx and topaz formed into images of cypress trees and wine bottles or more elaborate decorations like cut fruit or vases containing bouquets. Light penetrates to the interior through delicate jaali screens of intricately carved white marble. The interior decoration is considered by many to have inspired that of the Taj Mahal, which was built by her stepson, Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. More details are available
here!
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| Every inch is colourfully decorated! |
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| Bibi ka Maqbara (Tomb of the Lady), Aurangabad, built for Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb's wife by her son Azam Shah around 1661. The majestic building was built without much stone/gem work but looks simple and elegant. Our guide said that this was built by Aurangzeb who was against spending his subjects' money unnecessarily! |
The above structure resembles the Taj but in a simple way. The architect of the tomb, Atah Ullah was the son of Ustad Ahmad Lahauri, the principal designer of the Taj Mahal. More interesting details can be read
here!
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| My son took this panoramic shot....the place looks so beautiful! |
I tried to club all the three mausoleums in this post! More pictures and details of the Taj will be written in the next post!
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P.S.: Part II is here!
