The document provides details about the Taj Mahal, including its construction, features, and optical illusions created by its design. It took 22 years and 20,000 workers to complete. Key features mentioned include the main gateway called Darwaza, the courtyard called Jhilokhana, the gardens divided into four squares by two marble canals, and the four tall minarets rising from each corner of the white marble platform.

3. Though some attribute the design to Geronimo
Verroneo, an Italian in the Mughal service,
evidence suggests that it was designed by Ustad
Isa Khan Effendi, a Persian, who assigned the
detailed work to his pupil Ustad Ahmad. The
dome was designed by Ismail Khan.
The tomb which is higher than a modern 20-storey building took 22 years to complete with a
workforce of 20,000. Craftsmen from as far as Turkey joined in the work. The surroundings of
the Taj Mahal have been restored to the original designs of Ali Mardan Khan, a noble at Shah
Jahan's court.
FACTS ABOUT………………….

4. DARWAZA
This is the main gateway to the Taj and its
gardens, a massive portal that opens to
the south. Symbolically, to the Muslims,
such an entrance way was the gate to
paradise. Metaphysically, it represented
the transition point between the outer
world of the senses and the inner world
of the spirit.

5. It is said that upon first beholding the Taj through this gateway it will look
small and far away, as if built in three-quarter scale. This is an optical trick.
As one approaches, the illusion turns into another illusion: the building
begins to grow, and continues to grow until, when the base is reached, it
looms colossal. The dome especially seems to expand as one comes near,
almost as if it were being slowly inflated.

6. JHILOKANA
A jilokhana to enter the main gateway on the south. This courtyard
was a place where travellers halted. Here, also, the poor were
provided with food and shelter, and on the anniversary day vast
sums were distributed in charity from funds with which the Taj
was endowed

7. BAGECHA
In Islam, four is the holiest of all numbers - most arrangements of the Taj are based on that
number or its multiples - and the gardens were thus laid out in the quadrate plan. Two marble
canals studded with fountains & lined with cypress trees ( Symbolizing death) cross the center
of garden dividing it to 4 different equal squares

8. The tomb stands on its own marble plinth, which
rests on a red sandstone platform that serves to
level the land as it slopes to the river. Four tall
minarets rise up from the corners of the white
marble
Four tall minarets rise up from the corners of the white
marble plinth. They taper to a majestic height of 138 ft.
and are crowned with eight windowed cupolas. elegantly
accent the central structure, framing the space like the
mounting of a jewel.
RAUZA

9. MASJID
The one to the west of Taj Mahal is a Mosque. It faces towards Mecca and is used for prayer.
This greenery shaded structure, measuring 19 ft. by 6.5 ft. marks the site where the remains
of Mumtaz Mahal were deposited when first brought to Agra.
The platform in front of the Mosque is of red sandstone. A highly polished small marble
piece is so fitted that it serves as a mirror and one can see the mausoleum reflected in it. The
floor is of material which is exceedingly fine and sparkling and appears velvet red in shade.

10. On the east side of the Taj stands the twin of the Mosque,
jawab or "answer". Because it faced away from the Mecca,
it was never used for prayer. Its purpose was purely
architectural, to counterbalance the Mosque and preserve
the symmetry of the entire design on the platform.
The jawab is similar to the Mosque. However, it does
not contain the accessories which go with a mosque.
Instead of Koranic inscriptions, there are beautiful
flower designs and other decoration effectively done
in white marble on the red sandstone background.
NAQQAR KHANA

11. The image to the left shows the original photograph of the Taj Mahal with the markings used in
the 3-D model reconstruction. The green lines were used by the minimization algorithm to
recover camera positions and polyhedral structures. The yellow crosses were used by the SOR
(Surface of revolutions) and arch recovery algorithms to obtain the models for the domes and
arches. The image to the right shows the reconstructed model edges projected into the original
photograph.