The… Taj Mahal!

I had been looking forward to going to the Taj Mahal for ages! When I woke up on the morning that we were going to it I was SO excited! In the car anticipation quivered. When we got there we stood in the precise centre of an ornately inlaid and carved gate and saw a magnificent marble structure rising out of the mist like an elegant, dreamy apparition. It looked so beautiful!

When you enter the complex, the Taj Mahal looks tiny, but as you approach it you can see the towering building that it really is.

As we ambled through the elaborate complex, we learnt about its history: Shah Jahan built it for his favourite wife – Mumtaz – as a grand building to house her tomb. He wanted to have an identical building built for himself when he died, but his son, Aurangzeb, refused to! This is as Aurangzeb thought that it was materialistic and used too much public money for a private cause; and therefore opposed the rules of his religion. Therefore, Shah Jahan’s daughter buried him in the Taj Mahal alongside Mumtaz.

There is an ancient technique called marble inlay which is an art in which you encrust semi precious stones in marble. The Taj Mahal was decorated with ornamental patterns of colourful marble inlay!

The complex is very symmetrical, with two towers on either side and the main building exactly in the middle, forming a precise and beautiful effect.

It was an elegant, atmospheric building and complex, and I really enjoyed visiting it!

Ishani