Day 3:
-
After breakfast drive to Agra to where you see the beautiful
Taj Mahal and other Mughal monuments. Agra's Taj Mahal is
one of the most famous bui ldings in the wor ld, the
mausoleum of Shah Jahan's favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. It
is
one of the New Seven Wonders of the world, and one of three World Heritage
Sites in Agra. Completed in 1653, the Tj Mahal was built by the Mughal king
Shh Jahn as the final resting place for his beloved wife, Mumtz Mahal.
Finished in marble, it is perhaps India's most fascinating and beautiful
monument. This perfectly symmetrical monument took 22 years (1630–1652)
of hard labour and 20,000 workers, masons and jewellers to build and is set
amidst landscaped gardens. Built by the Persian architect, Ustd 's, the Tj
Mahal is on the bank of the Yamuna River. It can be observed from Agra Fort
from where Emperor Shh Jahn gazed at it, for the last eight years of his life, a
prisoner of his son Aurangzeb. It is an acknowledged masterpiece of
symmetry. Verses of the Koran are inscribed on it and at the top of the gate
are twenty-two small domes, signifying the number of years the monument
took to build. The Tj Mahal was built on a marble platform that stands above a
sandstone one. The most elegant dome of the Tj Mahal has a diameter of 60
feet (18 m), and rises to a height of 80 feet.Agra Fort (sometimes called the
Red Fort), was commissioned by the great Mughal Emperor Akbar in 1565,
and is another of Agra's World Heritage Sites. A stone tablet at the gate of the
Fort states that it had been built before 1000 but was later renovated by
Akbar. The red sandstone fort was converted into a palace during Shh Jahn's
time, and reworked extensively with marble and pietra dura inlay. Notable
buildings in the fort include the Pearl Mosque, the Dwn-e-'m and Dwn-e-Khs
(halls of public and private audience), Jahngr's Palace, Khs Mahal, Shsh
Mahal (mirrored palace), and the Musamman Burj.The Empress Nr Jahn built
I'timd-Ud-Daulah's Tomb, sometimes called the 'Baby Tj', for her father, Mirz
Ghiys Beg, the Chief Minister of the Emperor Jahngr. Located on the left bank
of the Yamuna river, the mausoleum is set in a large cruciform garden criss-
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