Interesting facts about the Taj Mahal: how this monument to love was built

Standing on the bank of the Yamuna in Agra, the white marble Taj Mahal is counted among the most beautiful buildings in the world. Lakhs of people come to see it every year. UNESCO calls it "the jewel of Muslim art in India". Here are interesting facts about the Taj Mahal — from the story of how it was built to the truth behind the myths about it.

The Taj Mahal at a glance

A story of love

Mumtaz Mahal, whose real name was Arjumand Banu Begum, was Shah Jahan's most beloved wife. In 1631 she died at Burhanpur while giving birth to their fourteenth child. The grieving Shah Jahan decided to build a tomb in her memory unlike any the world had seen. The main mausoleum was finished by about 1643, and the whole complex, with its garden, mosque and other buildings, by about 1653.

Marvels of architecture

• Marble: the white marble was brought from Makrana in Rajasthan. It is said that thousands of elephants were used to carry materials.
• Inlay: precious and semi-precious stones were cut and set into the marble, a technique called "pietra dura". The stones were brought from many parts of Asia.
• Leaning minarets: the four minarets were deliberately built leaning slightly outwards, so that in an earthquake they would fall away from the tomb, not onto it.
• Perfect symmetry: the whole complex is the same on both sides — only Shah Jahan's tomb breaks the symmetry, because it was added later beside Mumtaz's.
• Charbagh: the garden in front is divided into four parts in the Persian style.

Did you know? The Taj Mahal seems to change colour through the day — soft pink in the morning, dazzling white at noon and almost golden in the moonlight. On the full-moon night and a few nights around it, visitors are even allowed to see it at night. The Taj Mahal is closed to ordinary visitors every Friday, because prayers are held in its mosque that day.

Shah Jahan's last days

In 1658 Shah Jahan's son Aurangzeb removed him from the throne and confined him in Agra Fort. It is said that in his last years Shah Jahan would gaze across the Yamuna at the Taj Mahal from the fort's Musamman Burj. After his death in 1666 he was buried beside Mumtaz. Read about Agra Fort in The famous forts of India.

Myth versus fact

• "The workers' hands were cut off": there is no historical evidence for this; it is a folk tale.
• "A black Taj was to be built across the Yamuna": this story is popular too, but there is no firm evidence. Excavations at the "Mehtab Bagh" opposite found no foundations of such a building.

Efforts to protect the Taj

Pollution had begun to turn the white marble yellow. In 1996 the Supreme Court created the "Taj Trapezium Zone", about 10,400 square kilometres around the Taj, where polluting industries are restricted. To clean the marble, a paste of fuller's earth (multani mitti), a "mud pack", is applied. Near the Taj, battery-run vehicles are used instead of ordinary ones.

More articles: History · History questions.