About Agra
Agra is the one of the prominent destinations of the World Tourism map with
three heritage monuments - The Taj Mahal, Red Fort & Fatehpur Sikri. It is
more just a dacadent city of graveyards and stones, but it is a vibrant centre
of Culture, Art and Religious philosphies that have enriched mankind and shaped
humen thought over centuries. A pleasant town with comparatively slow pace,
Agra is known for its superb inlay work on marble and soastone by craftsman
who are descendant of those who worked under the Mughals. The city is also
famous for its carpets, gold thread embroidery and leather shoes. Agra was
once the capital of the Mughal empire and even today it seems to linger in
the past . Not surprising , for the Mughal emperors with their passion for
building, endowed the city with some of the finest structures in the world
.
Agra is an old city and it is said that its name was derived from Agrabana,
a forest that finds mention in the epic Mahabharata. in more recent times
Agra came into prominence when Sikandar Lodi made it his capital city in 1501
. The Lodi rule was to end very soon and Agra passed into the possession of
the Mughals . It was during the time of the third emperor Akbar that Agra
came into its own . He embarked on the construction of the massive Agra Fort
in 1565. Though Akbar was diverted into building a new capital at Fatehpur
sikri not far away. Agra continued to retain its importance and Shah Jehan,
Akbar's garndson ornamented the city with that masterpiece of Mughal architecture
- the Taj Mahal and built several other beautiful buildings within the Agra
fort.
Agra Information
Agra is the one of the prominent destinations of the World Tourism map with
three heritage monuments - The Taj Mahal, Red Fort & Fatehpur Sikri. It is
more just a dacadent city of graveyards and stones, but it is a vibrant centre
of Culture, Art and Religious philosphies that have enriched mankind and shaped
humen thought over centuries.
History of Taj
The construction of Taj Mahal was started in A.D. 1632 and completed at the
ended in 1648 A.D. For seventeen years, twenty thousand workmen are said to
have been employed on it daily, for their accommodation a small town, named
after the deceased empress- 'Mumtazabad', now known as Taj Ganj, was built
adjacent to it.
Itmad-Ud-Daulah
The city of Agra is full of architectural wonders. On one hand, it has the
famous Taj Mahal, and on the other hand, it has the Agra Fort and Itimad-ud-Daulah's.
The Green Taj Garden
The Green Taj Garden A green carpet of garden, a Persian garden, runs from
the main gateway to the foot of the Taj Mahal. Such gardens were introduced
to India by Babur, the first Mughal emperor, who also brought with him the
Persian infatuation with flowers and fruit, birds and leaves, symmetry and
delicacy. Unlike other Oriental gardens - especially those of the Japanese,
who learned to accentuate existing resources rather than formalise them -
the Persian garden was artificially contrived, unbashedly man-made, based
on geometric arrangements of nature without any attempt at a "natural" look.
Like Persian gardeners, landscape artists at the Taj Mahal attempted to translate
the perfection of heaven into terrestrial terms by following certain formulas.
In Islam, four is the holiest of all numbers - most arrangements of the Taj
Mahal 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 and
lined with cypress trees (symbolising death) cross in the centre of the garden
dividing it into four equal squares.
Taj Mosque and Rest House
On either side of the Tai Mahal are buildings of red sandstone. The one to
the west is a Mosque. It faces towards Mecca and is used for prayer. Before
we have a look at the mosque, let us take note of a small stone enclosure
along the western boundary wall where the well of the Mosque is located. 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.
