The Taj Mahal

The Taj Mahal. One of the wonders of the world. "A dream in marble." "A resplendent immortal tear drop on the cheek of time." For hundreds of years people have been moved by this monument, photographed it, written about it, and told their friends, "You must see it for yourself." It is probably the world's most recognizable building.

After all the hype, is it worth it? Absolutely. It's brilliantly designed to be the perfect vision. It remains hidden until you enter the gateway, and then it lies at the end of a long garden, bisected by water channels. You approach it, slowly. It rises out of the green to meet you, until you stand, not at its foot, but at the raised platform on which it rests. Here, you take off your shoes in respect and climb to the true base of the building. Now, it overwhelms you, spreading out to envelop you and rising to the sky, the arches reaching higher and higher to the domes, dissipating into the heavens.


Now you see the detail: the jasper inlaid in the white marble, spelling out verses from the Koran; the semi-precious stones inlaid to form colorful flowers; the reliefs rising out from the marble in a white-on-white pattern.

And inside this wonder of the world? Nothing. Well, there are decorations and beautiful, marble screens to let in the light. And there appear to be two tombs, but they are, in fact, empty. They are cenotaphs (empty tombs). The Taj Mahal was built by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan as a memorial to his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died giving birth to their 14th child in 1631. Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan are buried beneath the Taj far out of sight.

So the Taj Mahal is a mausoleum; that's why we take off our shoes and put our cameras away as we enter. Outside it is a joy to behold; inside it is a privilege to enter.

Below is a link to a slide show of the Taj Mahal. I recommend that you set the time interval between pictures to at least 5 seconds, so that you have time to read the captions, which I hope are informative.
Link to slide show

Note about the photography.
On this trip I have been paying attention to photography and how to compose pictures, particularly in cities and of buildings. One problem discussed is "How do you top the classic picture?" and the example is the Taj Mahal. Every visitor takes the same picture, and it's truly an amazing picture. But it's still the same picture. What can you do to make it different?

At first, I didn't want to put the "classic" picture at the top of this post, but I realized that was dumb. It is a classic and I was about to describe the Taj. Interesting (to me, at least) this was the last picture I took just before we left. In the slide show, I've included some pictures that to me, seem different, and there are several that I really, really like. I even have a trick or two. Whether they work for anyone else is left for the reader and the critic. Enjoy!