Taj mahal is an ivory-white marble mausoleum on the
southern bank of the river Yamuna in the Indian city of Agra. It was commissioned in 1632 by the Mughal
emperorShah Jahan (reigned
from 1628 to 1658) to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mumtaz
Mahal; it also houses the tomb of Shah Jahan himself.
The Taj Mahal
was designated as a UNESCOWorld Heritage Site in 1983 for being "the jewel of Muslim art in
India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world's
heritage". It is regarded by many as the best example of Mughal architecture and a symbol of India's rich history.
The Taj Mahal
was commissioned by Shah Jahan in 1631, to be built in the memory of his wife
Mumtaz Mahal, who died on 17 June that year, while giving birth to their 14th
child, Gauhara
Begum. Construction started in 1632 and
the mausoleum was completed in 1648, while the surrounding buildings and garden
were finished five years later. The imperial court documenting Shah
Jahan's grief after the death of Mumtaz Mahal illustrates the love story held
as the inspiration for the Taj Mahal.
The exterior
decorations of the Taj Mahal are among the finest in Mughal architecture. As
the surface area changes, the decorations are refined proportionally. The
decorative elements were created by applying paint, stucco, stone inlays
or carvings. In line with the Islamic prohibition against the use of
anthropomorphic forms, the decorative elements can be grouped into either calligraphy, abstract
forms or vegetative motifs. Throughout the complex are passages from
the Qur'an that comprise some of the decorative elements. Recent
scholarship suggests that Amanat Khan chose the passages.
Red port
The Red
Fort is a historic fort in
the city of Delhi in India that
served as the main residence of the Mughal Emperors. Emperor Shah Jahan commissioned
construction of the Red Fort on 12 May 1638, when he decided to shift his
capital from Agra to Delhi. Originally red and white, Shah Jahan's favourite
colours, its design is credited to architect Ustad Ahmad Lahori,
who also constructed the Taj Mahal. It was
constructed between May 1639 and April 1648.
Constructed in
1639 by the fifth Mughal
EmperorShah
Jahan as the palace of his fortified
capital Shahjahanabad, the Red Fort is named for its massive enclosing walls of
red sandstone. The imperial apartments consist of a row of pavilions,
connected by a water channel known as the Stream of Paradise (Nahr-i-Bihisht).
The fort complex is "considered to represent the zenith of Mughal
creativity under Shah Jahan" and although the palace was planned
according to Islamic prototypes, each pavilion contains architectural elements
typical of Mughal buildings that reflect a fusion of Persian, Timurid and Hindu traditions.
Every year
on India's Independence Day (15 August), the prime minister of India hoists the
national flag at the Red Fort and delivers a nationally broadcast speech from
its ramparts. The Red Fort, the largest monument in Delhi, is
one of its most popular tourist destinations and attracts thousands of
visitors every year.
India gate
The India
Gate (originally the All India War Memorial) is
a war memorial located astride the Rajpath, on the eastern edge of the "ceremonial axis"
of New
Delhi, formerly called Kingsway. It stands as a
memorial to 70,000 soldiers of the British Indian Army who died in between 1914–1921 in the First World War, in
France, Flanders, Mesopotamia, Persia, East
Africa, Gallipoli and elsewhere in the Near and the Far East, and
the third Anglo-Afghan War. 13,300 servicemen's names, including some soldiers and
officers from the United Kingdom, are inscribed on the gate. Designed by
Sir Edwin
Lutyens, the gate evokes the architectural style of
the triumphal
arch such as the Arch of Constantine, in Rome, and is often compared to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, and the Gateway of India in Mumbai.
The India Gate
was part of the work of the Imperial War Graves Commission (I.W.G.C), which came into existence in December 1917
for building war graves and memorials to soldiers who were killed in the First
World War The foundation stone of the gate, then called the All India War
Memorial, was laid on 10 February 1921, at 16:30, by the visiting Duke of Connaught in a ceremony attended by Officers and Men of the
British Indian Army, Imperial Service Troops, the Commander in Chief, and Chelmsford, the viceroy.
Qutub minar
The Qutb
Minar, also spelled as Qutub Minar and Qutab Minar,
is a minaret and "victory tower" that forms part of
the Qutb
complex, a UNESCOWorld Heritage Site in the Mehrauli area of Delhi, India.[2][3] Qutb Minar was 73-metres (239.5 feet) tall before the
final, fifth section was added after 1369.The tower tapers, and has a 14.3
metres (47 feet) base diameter, reducing to 2.7 metres (9 feet) at the top of
the peak.It contains a spiral staircase of 379 steps.
Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki was a sufi saint after whom this minaret was
named. Qutubuddin
Aibak, at that time a deputy of Muhammad
of Ghor, but after his death founder of the Delhi Sultanate, started construction of the Qutb Minar's first storey in
1199. This level has inscriptions praising Muhammad of Ghor. Aibak's successor
and son-in-law Shamsuddin Iltutmish completed a further three storeys.
In the 16th century,
Varanasi experienced a cultural revival under the Mughal emperorAkbar who
patronised the city, and built two large temples dedicated to Shiva and Vishnu, though much
of modern Varanasi was built during the 18th century, by the Maratha and Bhumihar
Brahmin kings. According to Hindu mythology,
Varanasi was founded by Shiva, one of three
principal deities along with Brahma and Vishnu. During a
fight between Brahma and Shiva, one of Brahma's five heads was torn off by
Shiva. As was the custom, the victor carried the slain adversary's head in his
hand and let it hang down from his hand as an act of ignominy, and a sign of
his own bravery.
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