Taj Part 2

Okay, so there are a few more things I want to say about the Taj before I move on to Agra fort. First, the minarets are really cool. They are built with a 2 degree angle outward away from the main building so that if they ever fell, they would fall away and not damage the Taj. They have similar carvings and craftsmanship and are also a wonder to behold.

Another neat architectural feature is that the whole building is built on a platform above the ground so that when you view it from ground level, even at a great distance, it is higher than its background and you will only see the blue sky behind it. This is a neat visual trick, but it gives the building the appearance of floating on a cloud in the middle of the sky.

Here is a great shot of the tombs. You can see Mumtaz's cenotaph is in the middle of the building with symmetry and Shah Jahan's tomb is on the left as the asymmetric cenotaph. If you look close you'll notice that the tomb of Shah Jahan actually overlays some of the calligraphic inscription on the floor, which is clearly a reminder that the mausoleum was not designed to incorporate him. Shah Jahan was buried here by his son, who had imprisoned him for the last several years of his life in Agra fort. Nobody knows whether he would have wanted to be buried in the Taj, but it is clear in viewing the mausoleum that it was not designed to incorporate his body from the beginning.