Facts about Taj Mahal
The Taj Mahal complex is bounded by a crenellated red sandstone wall on three sides.
The exterior decorations of the Taj Mahal are among the finest to be found in Mughal architecture of any period.
When the British took over management of the Taj Mahal, they changed the landscaping to resemble more the formal lawns of London.
A raised marble water tank at the center of the garden, halfway between the tomb and the gateway, and a linear reflecting pool on the North-South axis reflect the Taj Mahal.
The names of many of the builders who participated in the construction of the Taj Mahal in different capacities have come down through various sources.
The Taj Mahal was not designed by a single person—the project demanded talent from many people.
The water flowed into a large storage tank, where, by 13 additional purs, it was raised to large distribution tank above the Taj Mahal ground level.
The Taj Mahal garden is unusual in sitting the main element, the tomb, at the end rather than at the center of the garden.
Legend has it that he spent the remainder of his days gazing through the window at the Taj Mahal.
The Taj Mahal is considered by many to be the finest example of Mughal architecture, a style that combines elements of Persian and Indian styles.
Muslim tradition forbids elaborate decoration of graves, so the bodies of Mumtaz and Shah Jahan are laid in a relatively plain crypt beneath the inner chamber of the Taj Mahal.
The inner chamber, an octagon, of the Taj Mahal contains the cenotaphs of Mumtaz and Shah Jahan.
Amanat Khan from Persian Shiraz, Iran was the chief calligrapher (this fact is attested on the Taj Mahal gateway itself, where his name has been inscribed at the end of the inscription).
The Taj Mahal was constructed using materials from all over India and Asia.
Upon Shah Jahan's death, Aurangzeb buried him in the Taj Mahal next to his wife, the only disruption of the otherwise perfect symmetry in the architecture.
The Taj Mahal incorporates and expands on many design traditions, particularly Hindu, Persian, and earlier Mughal architecture.
By the twentieth century the Taj Mahal was being more closely cared for.
The minarets again display the Taj Mahal's basic penchant for symmetrical, repeated design.
The Indian government has dismissed claims by the Muslim trust to administer the property, affirming that the Taj Mahal is Indian national property.
Contemporary court chronicles contain many stories concerning Jahan's grief at Mumtaz's death; these are the basis of the love-story traditionally held as the inspiration for the Taj Mahal.
Shah Jahan intended the Taj Mahal to be acclaimed by the entire world, and since its construction the building has been the source of an admiration that has transcended cultures and geography.
The poet Rabindranath Tagore, a Nobel laureate, called Taj Mahal "a drop of tear on the cheek of history."
The interior chamber of the Taj Mahal steps far beyond traditional decorative elements.
At the Taj Mahal, each sanctuary opens on to an enormous vaulting dome.
Recently the Taj Mahal was claimed as Sunni Wakf property, on the grounds that it is the grave of a woman whose husband Emperor Shah Jahan was a Sunni.
Soon after the Taj Mahal's completion, Shah Jahan was deposed and put under house arrest at nearby Agra Fort by his son Aurangzeb.
By the mid 1800s, the Cheyenne had largely abandoned their sedentary, agricultural, and pottery traditions and fully adopted the classic nomadic Plains culture.