Marieke's Art of Living

The Taj Mahal is considered the finest example of Mughal architecture, a style that combines elements from Persian, Turkish, Indian, and Islamic architectural styles. In 1983, Taj Mahal became a UNESCO World Heritage Site and was cited as "the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world's heritage."

While the white domed marble mausoleum is most familiar, Taj Mahal is an integrated complex of structures that was completed around 1648. Ustad Ahmad Lahauri is generally considered as the principal designer of Taj.

In 1631, Shah Jahan, emperor during Mughal's period of greatest prosperity, was grief-stricken when his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal, died during the birth of their fourteenth child, Gauhara Begum. The court chronicles of Shah Jahan's grief illustrates the love story traditionally held as an inspiration for Taj Mahal. The construction begun soon after Mumtaz's death with the principal mausoleum completed in 1648. The surrounding buildings and garden were finished five years later. Visiting Agra in 1663, French traveller François Bernier wrote:

“I shall finish this letter with a description of the two wonderful mausoleums which constitute the chief superiority of Agra over Delhi. One was erected by Jehan-guyre [sic] in honour of his father Ekbar; and Chah-Jehan raised the other to the memory of his wife Tage Mehale, that extraordinary and celebrated beauty, of whom her husband was so enamoured it is said that he was constant to her during life, and at her death was so affected as nearly to follow her to the grave”.

Taj incorporates and expands on design traditions of Persian and earlier Mughal architecture. Specific inspiration came from successful Timurid and Mughal buildings including the Gur-e Amir (the tomb of Timur, progenitor of the Mughal dynasty, in Samarkand), Humayun's Tomb in Delhi, Itmad-Ud-Daulah's Tomb (sometimes called the Baby Taj), and Shah Jahan's own Jama Masjid in Delhi. While earlier Mughal buildings were primarily constructed of red sandstone, Shah Jahan promoted use of white marble inlaid with semi-precious stones and buildings under his patronage reached new levels of refinement.

Its refined elegance is a conspicuous contrast both to the Hindu architecture of pre-Islamic India, with its thick walls, corbelled arches, and heavy lintels, and to the Indo-Islamic styles, in which Hindu elements are combined with an eclectic assortment of motifs from Persian and Turkish sources."

"The Mausoleum of the Taj Mahal at Agra stands in a formally laid-out walled garden entered through a pavilion on the main axis. The tomb, raised on a terrace and first seen reflected in the central canal, is entirely sheathed in marble, but the mosque and counter-mosque on the transverse axis are built in red sandstone. The four minarets, set symmetrically about the tomb, are scaled down to heighten the effect of the dominant, slightly bulbous dome. The mosques, built only to balance the composition are set sufficiently far away to do no more than frame the mausoleum. In essence, the whole riverside platform is a mosque courtyard with a tomb at its centre. The great entrance gate with its domed central chamber, set at the end of the long watercourse, would in any other setting be monumental in its own right."

"The interior of the building is dimly lit through pierced marble lattices and contains a virtuoso display of carved marble. Externally the building gains an ethereal quality from its marble facings, which respond with extraordinary subtlety to changing light and weather." —Sir Banister Fletcher. A History of Architecture.

For a walk around the Taj go to> Virtual tour of the Taj

Itmad-Ud-Daulah's Tomb- The 'Baby Taj Mahal'

Itmad-Ud-Daulah's Tomb is a Mughal mausoleum often regarded as a "draft" of the Taj Mahal, described as a 'jewel box', and sometimes called the Baby Taj.

Along with the main building, the structure consists of numerous outbuildings and gardens. The tomb, built between 1622 and 1628 represents the transition between the first phase of monumental Mughal architecture - primarily built from red sandstone with marble decorations, as in Humayun's Tomb in Delhi and Akbar's tomb in Sikandra - to its second phase, based on white marble and pietra dura inlay - most elegantly realized in the Taj Mahal.

The mausoleum was commissioned by Nur Jahan, the wife of Jahangir, for her father Mirza Ghiyas Beg, who had been given the title of Itimâd-ud-Daulâ (pillar of the state). Mirza Ghiyas Beg is also the grandfather of Mumtaz Mahal (originally named Arjumand Bano, daughter of Asaf Khan), the wife of the emperor Shah Jahan, responsible for the building of the Taj Mahal.

Located on the left bank of the Yamuna River, the mausoleum is set in a large cruciform garden criss-crossed by water courses and walkways. The mausoleum itself is set on a base about 50 meters square and about 1 meter high. The mausoleum is about 23 meters square. On each corner are hexagonal towers, about 13 meters tall.

The walls are white marble from Rajasthan encrusted with semi-precious stone decorations - cornelian, jasper, lapis lazuli, onyx, and topaz in images of cypress trees and wine bottles, or more elaborate decorations like cut fruit or vases containing bouquets. Light to the interior passes through delicate jali screens of intricately carved white marble.

Many of Nur Jahan's relatives are interred in the mausoleum. The only asymmetrical element of the entire complex is that the cenotaphs of her father and mother have been set side-by-side, a formation replicated in the Taj Mahal.

Fatehpur Sikri was the political capital of India's Mughal Empire under Akbar's reign, from 1571 until 1585, when it was abandoned, ostensibly due to lack of water. It is located in what is now Uttar Pradesh, India.

Built in honor of Sufi saint Salim Chishti in 1571 by Mughal emperor Akbar, Fatehpur Sikri is a World Heritage Site.

Fatehpur Sikri shared its imperial duties as a capital city with Agra, where a bulk of the arsenal, treasure hoards, and other reserves were kept at its Red Fort for security. During a crisis, the court, harem, and treasury could be removed to Agra, only 26 miles away, less than a day's march.

Innovations in land revenue, coinage, military organisation, and provincial administration emerged during the Fatehpur Sikri years.

It is regarded as emperor Akbar's crowning architectural legacy. Indeed, its numerous palaces, halls, and masjids satisfy his creative and aesthetic impulses, typical of Mughals.

Some contemporary Indian architects, notably B. V. Doshi, have cited it as an important source of inspiration. Whether architect or layperson, this city generally captures the imagination and wonder of all who experience its urban spaces and see its buildings. Charles and Ray Eames, cited Fatehpur Sikri in the landmark 'India Report' that led to the conception of the National Institute of Design, India's premiere design school. It is here, that the legends of Akbar and his clever courtier Birbal must have arisen. Another of his navaratnas, Tansen, perhaps had performance spaces integrated within the architecture of this fort.

The layout of the city shows a conscious attempt to produce rich spatial effects by the organization of built forms around open spaces in interesting ways. Of particular note is the way in which shifts in axes occur as one moves along the city and the location of squares in important places with buildings forming a backdrop or envelope.

Unlike other important Mughal cities (such as Shahjahanabad, which has a very formal planning), Fatehpur Sikri has aspects of informality and improvisation. Indeed, the newly constructed city bore a similarity to the movable imperial encampment also designed by Akbar.

The buildings of Fatehpur Sikri show a synthesis of various regional schools of architectural craftsmanship such as Gujarati and Bengali. This was because indigenous craftsman from various regions were used for the construction of the buildings. Influences from Hindu and Jaina architecture are seen hand in hand with Islamic elements. The building material predominantly used is red sandstone, quarried from the same rocky outcrop on which it is situated.

• Naubat Khana – Drum house: near the entry, where important arrivals are announced.

• Diwan-i-Am – Hall of Public Audience: a building typology found in many Mughal cities where the ruler meets the general public. In this case it is a pavilion like multi-bayed rectangular structure fronting a large open space.

• Diwan-i-Khas – Hall of Private Audience: famous for its central pillar with thirty-six voluted brackets supporting a circular platform for Akbar.

• Raja Birbal's house: the house of Akbar's favourite minister, who was a Hindu. Notable features of the building are the horizontal sloping sunshades or chajjas and the brackets which support them.

• Jodhabai's palace: The building shows Gujarati influence and is built around a courtyard, with special care being taken to ensure privacy.

• Pachisi Court: a square marked out as a large sized board game (modern day Ludo) where live coins- people- participated.

• Char Chaman Tank: a tank with a central platform and four bridges leading up to it.

• Panch Mahal: A five-storied palatial structure. The bottom floor has 176 intricately carved columns.

• Buland Darwaza – the 'Gate of Magnificence': one of the gateways to the Jami masjid, a stupendous piece of architecture from the outside, gradually making a transition to a human scale in the inside.

• Jama Masjid: the mosque, built in the manner of Indian mosques, with liwans (aisles) around a central courtyard. A distinguishing feature is the row of chhatris (small domed pavilions) over the sanctuary.

• Tomb of Salim Chisti: a white marble encased tomb within the Jama mosque's courtyard.