Taj Mahal
The marble tomb of the Taj Mahal is supposedly the ultimate symbol of love, being built by the fifth Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan, for his second wife.
I always believed the story that he planned to build a second Taj made of black marble just across the river to the north but those pesky historians say that this is in fact a myth! I’ll have to try and find something that’s true…
Apparently the whole thing was designed to be perfectly symmetrical, with the deceased buried at the centre of the building. The symmetry was later spoiled though, as the emperors son decided to bury the deceased emperor alongside his wife.
There’s a large gallery of ground level pics at this site, a 360 panorama here and loads of info at Wikipedia.
Thanks: Jens Kilian, Fero Gunic, Matthew, Ashutosh Rajekar, gauri, vivek iyer, Tim, Mark Ross & Simone
I recently watched a program about the Black Taj Mahal. The theory is that the Black Taj was metaphorical: it was only the reflection of the White Taj in a black-tiled reflecting pool, visible when the moon was full. The host even constructed a reflecting pool out of large sheets of black plastic, and we get to “see” the Black Taj.
A very interesting program — I’ll be damned if I can find any mention of it on HistoryChannel.com though.
The Taj Mahal is defiinitely on my list of top sights that I have personally seen! Thanks for featuring it in your post today. These pics bring back lots of good memories of my travels.
I’ve always wondered about the authenticity of the Black Taj thing too….
It sure does look like they had something similar in mind across the river there.
If I’m not mistaken, it’s against the law to fly over the Taj Mahal, so hopefully this is a satellite image. =)
On the postcards, you never really notice that huge crowded city right at the gates…
If you think that the city being right there is weird, check out the great pyramids and their proximity to Cairo! Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth
Btw, there is an extra “the” in the first sentence of this post. Do you want me to point these things out or should I just enjoy things quietly from the sidelines?
Thanks, again! Shall we just setup a special SpedAngel typo email address?
That’s up to you guys
I don’t point out everything, just the obvious things. I’m not a genius, it’s just a habit. I don’t have to though, you just get the service for free since I check the site daily! So if you’re offended/annoyed, just let me know.
i saw the same program that slugsontoast saw. I was realy disappointed because I would so spend the 1500 or so dollars on a plane ticket the moment they discovered an all black taj mahal
Not to spoil your enjoyment of the Taj Mahal, but it was built for Jahan’s *favorite* wife. He had several. And it wasn’t so much a tribute of love for her as a display of power for Jahan. His father’s and grandfather’s tombs are also quite remarkable. It was a Mughal tradition to flaunt their wealth and power, especially in an occupied country, by creating lavish mausoleums. What would you expect from a guy whose name means ‘King of the World’?
Oh, and the fact that his son had him shoved in with the favorite wife instead of building a lavish tribute of a mausoleum for an honored father shows a lot about how the son felt – it was the ultimate disrespect.
taj mahal is pride of india and tribute to real love no arguments pls on how it built
What the hell are you talking abt Kesari? Lol… Dude you need to chill.
hi, i am totally agreed with ‘Chakolate’. and also adding a fact that ’shah’ never wanted to create a ‘Black Taj Mahal’ coz for your knowledge shah jahan, a mughal empror, himself ordered to cut off both hands of all ‘mistries’ (supervisors and workers) just to ensure the uniqueness of his construction.
Mockingly, Greatest symbol of love on the death of thousands workers who built it…
That’s Shah Jahan – The Moughals
hi
Hmmm, well shahjahan didn’t really cut off d arms of d workers. The workers were to sign a pact where they would never build ever again period. Some writers compared it to their arms being cut off. That’s how the story began.