TAJ MAHAL

Experiencing the Taj Mahal at sunrise is at its best and one of the highlights of my culinary travels. The Taj Mahal is one of the 7 wonders of the world and it is so well deserved that something so wonderfully planned and romantic remains to be experienced for me.

The work is possibly one of the most symmetrical ever made? Over the years I have visited the place 8 times. I am just as fascinated, and take at least as many pictures each time! The marble does not wear out and appears as clean and beautiful today as it did hundreds of years ago. Did you know that the monument is a burial place, built by the Mughal king Shah Jahan in memory of his wife Mumtaj? Taj means crown and is the last syllable of the name and mahal means castle or palace. Shah Jahan had 3 wives, of which Mumtaj was the favorite, she gave him 14 children over the course of 20 years, which was the cause of his death, a birth. Famous artists, architects and craftsmen were brought from nearby areas for planning. Only 6 months after his wife's death, was it decided where and how the monument would be made, in the meantime the body was kept outside Agra.

TAJ MAHAL

Construction began in 1632 and the marvel was not completed until 1648. The Taj Mahal was built on the Yamuna River in the city of Agra, the burial ground is surrounded by large gardens, avenues, a mosque and fountains made of pure marble from Makrana (a place in the state of Rajasthan). Unfortunately, much was removed during British rule, in favor of lawns. The starting point is the kind of paradise described in the Koran, the entrance is engraved with Onyx with quotes from the Koran. Until 1800, the dome was made of pure gold, today it still towers 70 meters above the building, but only in bronze. The planning was ingenious so that neither earthquakes, abundance nor storms could destroy the great work. To this day, the lawn is still cut in the old-fashioned way and tourists are brought by battery bus the last stretch so that the precious marble is not destroyed by pollution. In the innermost chamber, you have to wear felt socks to keep the place as clean as possible. The building is considered a Muslim shrine, it is closed on Fridays and only open for prayer in the mosque.

TAJ MAHAL

Every time I am greatly impressed by how people have created this wonder without modern tools, engraving machines or PCs! How did they manage to make the patterns and details go up from bottom to top? In 1983, the Taj Mahal was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site as "a universally admired masterpiece among world heritage sites. It was not until July 7, 2007 that the mausoleum was also designated as one of the new seven wonders of the world . It is said that the workers had their hands cut off after the wonder was built, which is a symbolic phrase. The workers were given free property/housing and enough work to support themselves so that they were tempted to stay in Agra and practice the practice. In return, they had to promise not to reveal the secret of how the glue was made and the key to the patterns made in the marble. To this day, these recipes are passed down through generations and there is a family behind each pattern.

TAJ MAHAL

Shah Jahan planned to build a similar work for himself in black marble, which was unpopular with both his son Aurangzeb and the people because of all the means used. Thus Shah Jahan ended his life in captivity in the Red Fort, where he could daily see his favorite from the roof. He ended up, ironically, destroying the symmetry of the marvel, which he had spent enormous sums to maintain, by being buried next to his Mumtaj.