The Taj Mahal was commissioned by Shah Jahan as a mausoleum for his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal. Over 22 years, thousands of artisans from India and Central Asia worked to construct the white marble architectural wonder. Following Islamic architectural traditions, the Taj Mahal complex is perfectly symmetrical and incorporates elements from various styles. Its intricate decorations include passages from the Quran written in delicate calligraphy and inlaid with precious stones. The Taj Mahal is seen as recreating paradise on earth and stands as one of the most beautiful monuments ever built.

1. TAJ MAHAL
“the Taj Mahal Rises Above The Banks Of The River Like A
Solitary Tear Suspended On The Cheek Of Time”
- Rabindranath Tagore

2. INTRODUCTION
• The Taj Mahal of Agra is one of the Seven Wonders of the World, for reasons more than just looking
magnificent. It's the history of Taj Mahal that adds a soul to its magnificence: a soul that is filled with
love, loss, remorse, and love again.
• This man was the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, who was head-over-heels in love with Mumtaz Mahal,
his dear wife. She was a Muslim Persian princess and he was the son of the Mughal Emperor Jahangir and
grandson of Akbar the Great.
• It was in the memory of his beloved wife that Shah Jahan built Taj Mahal ,a magnificent monument as a
tribute to her.
• The construction of Taj Mahal started in the year 1631. Masons, stonecutters, inlayers, carvers, painters,
calligraphers, dome-builders and other artisans were requisitioned from the whole of the empire and
also from Central Asia and Iran, and it took approximately 22 years to build what we see today. which
was brought in from all over India and central Asia. Taj Mahal was finally completed in the year 1653.

3. • It was conceived as a replica on earth of the house of the departed in paradise (inspired by a verse by
the imperial goldsmith and poet Bibadal Khan
• It is a perfect blend combining elements from Islamic, Persian, Ottoman, Turkish as well
as Indian architectural styles.
• This theme, common in most Mughal funerary architecture, permeates the entire complex and informs
the detailed design of all the elements.
• A number of secondary principles also inform the design, of which hierarchy is the most dominant. A
deliberate interplay is established between the building's elements, its surface decoration, materials,
geometric planning and its acoustics.
• This interplay extends from what can be experienced directly with the senses, into religious,
intellectual, mathematical and poetic ideas. The constantly changing sunlight reflected from the Taj's
translucent marble is not a happy accident, it had a deliberate metaphoric role associated with the
presence of god as light.
CONCEPTS, SYMBOLISM AND INTERPRETATIONS
Planned Symmetry and GeometricAerial View

4. SYMMETRY AND HIERARCHY
• Symmetry and geometric planning played an important role in ordering the complex and reflected a
trend towards formal systematisation that was apparent in all of the arts emanating from Jahan's
imperial patronage.
• Bilateral symmetry expressed simultaneous ideas of pairing, counterparts and integration, reflecting
intellectual and spiritual notions of universal harmony.
• Hierarchical ordering of architecture is commonly used to emphasise particular elements of a design and
to create drama. In the Taj Mahal, the hierarchical use of red sandstone and white marble contributes
manifold symbolic significance.
• The plan of the whole complex is in the form of a large
rectangular enclosure aligned to the north-south
direction measuring 1900’ X 1000’. The central area is
occupied by a square garden measuring 1000’ side,
leaving two oblong rectangles at the north and south
ends.
• The southern end consists of a system of roads and
service dwellings while the northern end, abutting the
Jumna River, consists of a raised terrace on which there
are the tomb structure and some subsidiary structures.

5. MATERIALS AND CALLIGRAPHY
• The Taj Mahal was constructed using materials from all over India and Asia
• The buildings are constructed with walls of brick and rubble inner cores faced
with either marble or sandstone locked together with iron dowels and
clamps. Some of the walls of the mausoleum are several metres thick.
• The bricks were fired locally and the sandstone was quarried 28 miles
(45 km) away near Fatehpur Sikri. The white marble was brought 250 miles
(400 km) from quarries belonging to Raja Jai Singh in Makrana, Rajasthan
• The Jasper was sourced from the Punjab and the Jade and crystal from
China. The turquoise was from Tibet and the Lapis lazuli from Afghanistan,
while the sapphire came from Sri Lanka and the carnelian from Arabia. In
all, 28 types of precious and semi-precious stones were inlaid into the
white marble.
• Jean-Baptiste Tavernier records that the scaffolding and centering for the arches was constructed
entirely in brick. Legend says that the emperor offered these scaffolding bricks to anyone who would
remove them and that at the end of the construction they were removed within a week.
• Modern scholars dispute this and consider it much more likely that the scaffolding was made of bamboo
and materials were elevated by means of timber ramps.
Marble floral decoration
Marble floral decoration

6. MATERIALS AND CALLIGRAPHY
• The Taj Mahal always welcomes each of its visitors with an
inscription, written in beautiful handwriting, on the great
gate that reads "O Soul, thou art at rest. Return to the Lord
at peace with Him, and He at peace with you."
Taj Mahal Calligraphy Example
Taj Mahal door construction
Art Work inside Taj Mahal
Flowers in marble
Calligraphy By –
“Abdul Haq”
• The calligraphy of the Taj Mahal mainly consists of the verses and passages from the holy book of Quran.
It was done by inlaying jasper the white marble panels.

7. THE ENTRANCE AND GATEWAY
• The site is flanked to the north and south by two oblong smaller rises in the southern gate of a
sandstone which gives entry to the complex and some auxiliary buildings of uncertain purpose; in the
north, parallel to the river Yamuna, is rose the mausoleum.
• Main Gateway Referred to as Darwaza-i-Rauza or "gate of the mausoleum" by the architect Ustad
Ahmad Lahauri himself, the main gateway to Taj Mahal is indeed a worthy counterpart to the
mausoleum in every sense of the phrase
• Adorned with Hindu motifs, the Taj gateway is a tall niche doorway in the shape of an ogival arch that
rises till the mid-height of the structure. With a vertical symmetry, the main gateway of Taj Mahal
stands bordered with Arabic calligraphy of verses from the Quran, made up of black stone.
• In the Muslim world, these doors also had a strong symbolism as they represented the entrance to
paradise, from the metaphysical point of view, were considered the transition point between the
outside world of the senses and the inner world of the spirit.

8. THE GARDENS
• Out of the total area of 580 meter by 300 meter of the Taj complex, these gardens
alone cover an area of 300 meter by 300 meter distance and are based on
geometric arrangements of nature. No attempt was made to give them a "natural"
look
• With an area of 6.9 hectares, was projected as representing the earthly paradise,
in the style of Persian gardens introduced in India by Babur, the first Mughal
emperor.
• Originally contained a multitude of exotic flowers and trees, everything in them available geometric
and perfectly symmetrical: gardeners worked with the conscious effort to translate to heavenly
perfection earthly terms, following a series of formulas well known. Thus, the four, number sacred in
Islam and was the basis of the entire design.
• In the Mughal architecture, water is used both for ritual ablution to cool and humidify the
environment, a wise combination of religious significance to the practical need.

9. THE INTERIOR
• The central chamber of the Taj Mahal has a decoration that
goes beyond traditional techniques. Here the material used for
the fouling is not as marble or jade, but precious and semi
precious gems. Each element of the decorative exterior has
been redefined through jewellery.
• The shape of the room but is Octagonal and the design lets you
enter by either side, only the southern gate in the direction of
the garden is used regularly. The interior walls are about 25
meters in height, which was built on a false dome solar interior
is decorated with motifs. Eight pointed arches define the space
at ground level.
• Each of these window balconies carries an intricate marble
screen draft, or Jali. In addition to the light coming from the
balconies, the lighting is complemented by the incoming
chattris in every corner of the outer dome.
• Muslim tradition forbids elaborate decoration of the graves, so
that the bodies of Mumtaz and Shah Jahan rest on a relatively
simple camera beneath the main hall of the Taj Mahal

10. BIRBAL'S HOUSE
• The building known an Birbal’s house is a two storeyed structure, complex in its arrangements and
elaborate in its architectural ornamentation.
• The ground storey is made up of four rooms and two porches, while the upper storey is made up of
two rooms and open terraces enclosed by screens.
• The upper rooms are roofed by cupolas while the porches have pyramidal roofs, all of which are
constructed on a modified form of the double dome in order to keep the interior cool.
• The chief attraction is the treatment of the exterior, particularly the rich character of the eave
brackets.
• Such bracket supports are common in most of the secular structures in Fatehpur Sikri, but they have
employed most liberally and designed and executed most elaborately in Birbal’s House.
Ground floor And First Floor Plan Front View

11. BIRBAL'S HOUSE
Main Entrance
Brackets
Bracket Details
Bracket
Rear View
Wall Patterns

12. BIRBAL'S HOUSE WALL CARVINGS