What Is The Taj Mahal

• 10 Facts About Taj Mahal
• Who Was The Taj Mahal Built For
• What Is The Taj Mahal Compared To

• Taj Mahal Facts. Enjoy our range of fun Taj Mahal facts for kids. Learn who it was built for, what the name means, how long it took to build, what it is made from,.
• Henry Saint Clair Fredericks (born May 17, 1942), who uses the stage name Taj Mahal, is an American blues musician, a self-taught singer-songwriter and film composer who plays the guitar, piano, banjo, and harmonica, among many other instruments.

MONUMENTS WITHIN THE TAJ COMPLEX

Jul 12, 2018 - India's Supreme Court has threatened to shut down the Taj Mahal unless steps are put in place to better preserve the world heritage site.

One can see two identical buildings on either side of the Taj. These monuments are entirely made of red sandstone. While both these buildings are mosques, the one towards the west (left side of the Taj) is important and used for offering prayers, as it not only sanctifies the Taj but also faces Mecca. The replica on the other side is known as the Jawab (answer).

TAJ MAHOTSAV
Taj Mahal serves as a backdrop for the annual Taj Mahotsav (Taj festival), which is usually held in the month of February. The Taj Mahotsav is a celebration of traditional Indian art forms and crafts. The main events of this festival include classical dance performances by leading dance exponents and musical recitals by maestros, apart from display of various craft products and cultural shows.

The canals and waterworks within the Charbagh provide a grand reflection of the Taj, further emphasizing the imagery of the paradise. The Muslims regard the Koran as a mirror image of a tablet in heaven, while the 'Tree of Life' grows upside down in the garden within the paradise. The architects who built the Taj Mahal made the canals and the waterworks in the garden, with the purpose of generating an upside down image of the Taj, to gel with the divine inspiration.

After the completion of Taj Mahal each garden within the Charbagh was divided into 16 flowerbeds, making a total of 64. It is said that each flowerbed was planted with 400 plants. Trees were planted carefully in accordance with the symmetry of the overall plan. The trees, which were generally preferred, were either cypress (Cuprussus) (signifying death) or different fruit bearing trees (signifying life). These trees housed some of the most exotic birds, all of which added to the breathtaking environs of the Taj. The water channels crisscrossing the garden used to be full of colorful fish of various species. Special care was taken to maintain the garden, its waterworks as members of the royal family frequented it and stayed in the guesthouse (mehmankhana) near it. THE MAUSOLEUM The central path within the garden leads you to the Taj Mahal, which is placed on a high plinth (platform). The plinth is 6.7 m (21.98 ft) high and covers an area of 95 sq m (1,022.57 square feet). A double staircase facing the entrance to the tomb is the only way, which takes you on top of it. This plinth or pedestal is an ideal place from where you can have a panoramic view of the surroundings, which includes the lush green Charbagh in the front and the riverfront at the backside. From here, you can also admire the white towering structure of the Taj.

There are four elegant tapering minarets, one on each corner of the plinth. Each of the minarets is 41.6 m (136.48 ft) high and is capped by a small cupola. The minarets, not only balance the main structure of the mausoleum, but are also placed in such a way that in case of a mishap, they do not fall over the main edifice. Each pillar has a letter written on it, which put together spell the word ar-rahman (all merciful) - one of the many names of Allah. The main structure of the Taj Mahal is square and is beveled at its corners. Each side of the Taj Mahal is 56.6 m (185.69 ft) long. On each facade arched recesses arranged in two stories flank a high iwan in the center. The top border of the iwan on each side rises higher than the rest of façade, thus concealing the neck of the dome behind it. A central bulbous dome crowns the magnificent structure. This dome is further surrounded by four chhatris (domed canopy, supported by pillars/cupola). Each of which is topped by a small finial. The dome is an important component of the Islamic style of architecture, as it is believed to be a link between heaven and earth. While the square structure of the edifice represents the material world, the dome symbolizes the vault of heaven. The octagonal part symbolizes the transitional phase between heaven and earth. The dome is topped by a brass finial, whose tip rises to a height of 73 m above the ground. Above the finial is the realm of transcendence. The entire structure of the dome is designed as a replica of God's throne in paradise, where a gigantic pearl dome stands supported by four corner pillars. According to Islam the rivers of grace flow through this dome. The outer walls of the Taj Mahal are decorated in a number of places with shallow marble carving apart from the elegant pietra dura work, which can be seen near arched recesses and borders. The entrance to the tomb leads you to the central hall, which houses the false tombs and has four small octagonal halls, grouped around it. The original graves are located in a crypt, which is directly below the central hall. The four smaller rooms were originally created for housing the graves of other members of the royal family. The tomb of Mumtaz Mahal, in whose honor the Taj Mahal was built, lies directly below the dome. The tomb is placed in such a manner that it is in direct alignment with the main entrance. The tomb of Shahjahan is much larger and is placed next to that of his beloved queen. The tombs are decorated with exquisite pietra dura (stone inlay) work. Apart from unexcelled inlay work the tomb of Mumtaz Mahal is inscribed by 99 different names of Allah. It is said that the royal graves once laid inside a gem encrusted gold railing, which was later removed and replaced by an octagonal, all marble lattice (jali-perforated screen) screen of the most exquisite craftsmanship. Delicate inlay work can be seen on the surface of the screen. The floral decorations on the screen are amazing. Some flowers created on the screen are made up of as many as 64 pieces. The different sections of the screen are carved out of a single piece of marble. Various sections of the screen are joined together with gilded fasteners and the entrance is fashioned out of jasper, in the Turkish style.

The Taj Mahal is one of the seven new wonders of the world, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and easily the most famous cultural landmark in India. But a caustic combination of air pollution, water pollution and bug poop (yes, bug poop) has left its mark, literally, on the nearly 400-year-old, palatial marble mausoleum.

The Taj Mahal's ivory-white exterior has been stained brown, green and yellow by industrial pollution and swarming insects. And flooding from the nearby Yamuna River, laden with human and industrial waste, is also no treat for tourists.

The pitiable state of one of the world's most beloved monuments recently led the Supreme Court of India to threaten the country's Ministry of Environment and Forests, saying, 'Either you demolish [the Taj Mahal] or you restore it.'

The Supreme Court issued this ultimatum as a way to spur the Indian government to finally take action to conserve this famous 'monument to love.' While there's no chance that India will actually tear down the Taj Mahal, restoring the site to its former glory will be an uphill battle. Bonnie Burnham, former president and CEO of the World Monuments Fund (WMF), a private nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving threatened cultural landmarks, says the challenges facing the Taj Mahal are two-fold.

'It's money plus politics,' says Burnham, who tried unsuccessfully to partner with Indian authorities to improve the Taj Mahal visitor experience when she was with the WMF. 'It's not having a vision of the bigger picture, a strong will to do something within a context of dynamic change. You can't simply treat a monument as if it were in a glass box and won't be affected by its environment. And that's the problem with the Taj Mahal.'

In 2016, the Times of India reported that the Taj Mahal had taken in more than Rs 75 crore (about $11 million) over the last three years but had spent just Rs 11 crore ($1.6 million) on maintenance and conservation. Burnham says that ticket revenue from the Taj Mahal is lumped together with revenue from other tourism sites and spent by the central Indian government on any number of expenditures, not all related to tourism or cultural preservation.

'The funds for these restoration works come at its usual pace in our bureaucratic setting and those disbursing the funds have remote, if any, emotional connect with the monuments, even if these are 'World Heritage Sites,' wrote Maneesh Pandey, deputy editor of the Indian publication Mail Today back in 2016.

Every Country Struggles

10 Facts About Taj Mahal

The Taj Mahal is far from the only cultural icon to suffer from a lack of full funding and political support. Joseph King, who runs the Sites Unit at the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), an intergovernmental organization that partners with UNESCO to help member states conserve their cultural heritage, says that every country struggles.

'I've been in this business 30 years,' says King. 'I've never met anyone in any country — developed, developing, North America , Asia, Africa — who says they have enough funding, enough support, enough capacity to do everything they need to do. I think that's normal everywhere.'

In Italy, for example, the government called for a $30 million restoration of the Colosseum in 2012 to clean up decades of grime caking the ancient stone, but crippling national debt and political instability left the bill unpaid. It took a luxury fashion brand, Tod's, to step in and cover the cost of the Colosseum's much-needed makeover.

Often costs for restoring these monuments are astronomical. Some argue that money spent in this way could be better served helping the poor or fixing roads and bridges. Others want to cap the numbers of tourists at these sites to lessen the toll on infrastructure. And some say what is needed is actually more commercial enterprise at these landmarks, which could help cover the costs of conserving them.

'With a state-of-the-art interpretation centre including cafe, site museum, book shop, exhibitions for children, the revenues earned [on the Taj Mahal] could be manifold,' wrote Maneesh Pandey. That money, he noted, could be used to create a fund for maintenance and restoration so the site would not need to rely on government money for this kind of work.

One common misconception, explains King, is the role that UNESCO plays after it designates a location as one of its World Heritage Sites, of which there are now 1,092. UNESCO doesn't sweep in with a bunch of money to fund conservation efforts, and it's not in charge of overseeing site preservation.

'When something becomes a world heritage site, it doesn't become UNESCO's responsibility to take care of it,' says King. 'UNESCO is also not the heritage police. It's not like UNESCO comes in and starts fining countries for doing the wrong thing or sanctioning them.'

Who Was The Taj Mahal Built For

That's not to say that individual countries are alone in preserving their cultural heritage. Organizations like UNESCO, ICCROM and the World Monuments Fund exist to rally international support around shining examples of human achievement. They fund the training of local workers in specialized fields of conservation science and technology. They help develop long-term, holistic conservation strategies that consider not only the man-made structures, but the surrounding environment and local economy.

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What Is The Taj Mahal Compared To

'Monuments are a rallying point of culture and this is why it's important for us to have them,' says Burnham. 'It's important for the Indian government to have the wherewithal to preserve the Taj Mahal under the most optimal circumstances that it can, and if there are organizations that can contribute and can reaffirm the idea that this is a collective responsibility of human society across the globe regardless of politics, then that's a resonant message.'

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