Thursday, October 20, 2011

A visit to the Taj

Ah, the Taj.


It's not just a white marble building.

There's so much color and texture and life in that marble which has withstood centuries of monsoons.

It is, perhaps, the most photographed building on earth.


Around 10,000 people a day visit this famous building.

They are all over the Taj complex...

...People standing around posing...

...Or just lounging in the shade.


Three bonus bits of Taj trivia:

There are twenty-two domes on the gate at the East entrance to the Taj Mahal. The guides say this is because it took twenty-two years to build the complex.


The Koranic verses displayed are not painted, they are black onyx and are designed as an optical illusion: they get bigger the higher up they are so that the characters appear to be all the same size.
The minarets actually tilt outwards, so that optically, they don't appear to be caving in, and also, if an earthquake should ever make them crumble, they would not fall on the taj itself.

So many details. Click on the image below for a few photos.

2 comments:

aunt j said...

WOW!!

l said...

Don't you just love the Taj? :)