See all Posts in the Wanderlust – A Travel Blog Series
The Taj Mahal is near the top of my shortlist of the most incredible places on earth. Everyone has heard of it and has seen images of its towering minarets and onion-shaped marble dome.
If you are fortunate enough to have visited the Taj Mahal, I am sure you will agree that photographs don’t do it justice. In my view, it is the most breathtakingly beautiful building ever constructed. I saw it as a young man, and it deepened my appreciation for art, architecture and Islamic culture.
The Taj Mahal is in Agra, India, about a three-hour train ride south of New Delhi, the country’s capital. The attraction draws five million visitors annually, so transportation is easy, and lodging is plentiful at every price point. Many visitors choose not to stay overnight and make the round trip from New Delhi all in one day.
Emperor Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal between 1632 and 1648 as a mausoleum for his wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died in childbirth in 1631 with their 14th child. Both Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal are interred in the inner chamber of the main dome. The English translation of Taj Mahal is “Crown of the Palace.” Many consider it to be a monument to undying love.
The Taj Mahal’s raw beauty comes from its size, symmetry, construction materials and attention to detail.
The minarets and dome sit on a sandstone and marble platform above the bank of the Yamuna River. Approaching the complex takes you along a manicured walkway and a reflective pond. The minarets perfectly balance the central complex of arched doorways, the central dome, and the classic Islamic finial pointing to the sky.
The entire façade is polished white marble. While that is beautiful on its own, what really stands out is that the marble surfaces are decorated in exquisite detail with inlaid precious and semi-precious stonework.
Islam generally discourages depictions of humans and other living beings, so most of the inlay work is characterized by abstract geometric and floral patterns. Intricate calligraphy of Qur’anic verses also outlines the façade in perspective. If you are standing at the base of the building, the characters at eye level read as if they were the same size as the characters soaring a hundred feet overhead. Skilled artisans performed this amazing work by hand nearly 400 years ago.
The ideal time to see the Taj Mahal is at night during a full moon. The polished white marble shimmers in the moonlight, and the Islamic call to prayer adds haunting notes of beauty and peace.
The call to prayer aside, there are some discordant notes to all this grandeur. The first is the long-debated legend that Shah Jahan, after creating this magnificent work of art, had the skilled artisans who did the work blinded so that they could never create another work as beautiful.
The second is that Agra (like all of India) is a land of contrasts. This most beautiful building in the world sits amidst some of the most devastating poverty you may ever see. It is not just the nearby slums; it is the lame and the sick begging in the streets as you walk through the entrance to see one of mankind’s greatest achievements.
Grief and love contrast with selfishness and cruelty. Great beauty contrasts with great poverty. Incredible places, like the Taj Mahal, will change you and your perspective on the world.
(Dan Keyport is a CCLN board member and former Chaska business owner, now retired. His home base for international travel has been Chaska for more than 30 years.)
