Presentation 1 by Khablieva Elena
• • • Keywords Introduction History Interesting facts about Taj Mahal Conclusion List of references 2
Keywords • • • Taj Mahal Wife Mumtaz Mahal Shah Jahan Memory Construction 3
The Taj Mahal of Agra is one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It's the history of Taj Mahal that adds a soul to its magnificence: a soul that is filled with love, loss, remorse, and love again. Because if it was not for love, the world would have been robbed of a fine example upon which people base their relationships. 4
An example of how deeply a man loved his wife, that even after she remained but a memory, he made sure that this memory would never fade away. This man was the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, who was head-over-heels in love with Mumtaz Mahal, his dear wife. She was a Muslim Persian princess (her name Arjumand Banu Begum before marriage) and he was the son of the Mughal Emperor Jehangir and grandson of Akbar the Great. It was at the age of 14 that he 5 met Mumtaz and fell in love with her. Five years later in the year 1612, they got married.
Mumtaz Mahal, an inseparable companion of Shah Jahan, died in 1631, while giving birth to their 14 th child. It was in the memory of his beloved wife that Shah Jahan built a magnificent monument as a tribute to her, which we today know as the "Taj Mahal". The construction of Taj Mahal started in the year 1631. The monument was built entirely out of white marble, which was brought in from all over India and central Asia. Taj Mahal was finally completed in the year 1653. Shah Jahan, himself also, 6 lies entombed in this mausoleum along with his wife.
Shah Jahan Mumtaz Mahal 7
Tombs of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal at underground level 8
Interesting facts • It is estimated to have taken more than 22, 000 people to build this impressive building including labourers, painters, stonecutters, embroidery artists, and many others. • According to legend it is believed that Emperor Shah Jahan had planned to construct another Taj Mahal in black marble on the other side of the river but the war with his sons interrupted his plans. 9
• The Taj Mahal takes on different colouring at different times of the day, from a pinkish hue in the morning, milky white in the evening and golden at night when lit by the moon. They say the changing colour resembles the changing 10 mood of females - in particular the Emperor's queen.
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• It is said that the death so crushed the Emperor that all his hair and beard were said to have grown snow white within just a few months. • The four sides of the Taj Mahal are perfectly identical creating an astonishingly mirrored image on each side. • The Taj Mahal is surrounded by significant gardens and a number of other buildings including a mosque and guest houses which make up the 17 hectares of land within the complex walls. 13 • The full height of the Taj Mahal is 171 metres (561 feet).
• More than 1, 000 elephants were employed to transport the construction materials used to build the Taj. • Many precious stones were ripped off from its walls by the 14 British during the Indian rebellion of 1857.
The Taj Mahal is found in Agra which is approximately two hours from Delhi by train, so it can easily be arranged as a day trip. Today, some 3 million people a year (or around 45, 000 a day during peak tourist season) visit the Taj Mahal. 15
List of references • http: //www. history. com/topics/taj-mahal • http: //en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Taj_Mahal • http: //www. tajmahal. org. uk/history. html 16
Thank you for your attention 17
