Ten facts about Taj Mahal
1. The Taj Mahal was commissioned in 1631 by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan to honor his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal, who died during childbirth.
2. Construction of the Taj Mahal took 22 years, from 1632 to 1653, and involved over 20,000 workers and 1,000 elephants.
3. The mausoleum is built primarily of white marble, with materials sourced from various parts of India and Asia, including jade from China, turquoise from Tibet, and sapphires from Sri Lanka.
4. The Taj Mahal's iconic dome reaches a height of 73 meters (240 feet) and is decorated with a lotus design.
5. The monument's color appears to change throughout the day, from pinkish in the morning to white during the day and golden in the moonlight.
6. The Taj Mahal complex includes a mosque, a guest house, and formal gardens bounded on three sides by a crenellated wall.
7. Calligraphy featuring verses from the Quran adorns various sections of the Taj Mahal, with the size of the letters increasing with height to maintain a uniform appearance from below.
8. The four minarets surrounding the main mausoleum were designed to lean slightly outward, ensuring they would fall away from the central structure in case of collapse.
9. The Taj Mahal was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983 and is considered one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.
10. The total cost of construction in the 17th century is estimated to have been around 32 million rupees, which would be approximately 52.8 billion rupees ($827 million) in today's value.
