Sunday 17th March 2019 With an evening train to catch we planned just a brief trip to Itimad-ud-Daulah’s tomb and Mehta Bagh with time to chill at the hotel before heading to the station. Built ten years before the Taj Mahal, Itimad-ud-Daulah’s tomb was commissioned by his daughter, Nur Jahan, who was also Mumtaz Mahals’s aunt. It is said to have influenced the design of the Taj Mahal and to mark the transition from the traditional red sandstone Mughal architecture (as seen at Agra Fort that we visited yesterday, and the Red Fort in Delhi) to the more refined style eventually epitomised by the Taj itself. Indeed it is also known locally as “the baby Taj”. Itimad-ud-Daulah’s tomb features a symmetrical white mausoleum set in a garden surrounded by red sandstone walls. The interior decoration is possibly better preserved than that in some of the places we have visited and like the building it inspired, it is a place of calm and tranquility compared to the busy city outside its walls. From here we went to Mehta Bagh. This is sometimes referred to as the Black Taj and is said to be the site on which Shan Jahan planned to […]
Daily Archives: 18/03/2019
Saturday 16th March 2019 The Taj Mahal is closed on Fridays and we were originally advised that Sunday would be quieter than Saturday so planned to visit Agra Fort first. However, on the day, Amit, our guide, suggested that it might be better to visit the Taj Mahal and then Agra Fort on the same day as the weather was good and, like England, it can be unpredictable. There are two different entrance fees for tourists and locals as well as different queues for male and female for each type of ticket. Every visitor has to go through a security scanner and then entry to the main complex is via the North Gate, which is made of traditional red sandstone. Taj Mahal means “Crown of the Palaces” and it was commissioned in 1632 by Shah Jahan to house the tomb of his favourite, and third wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who had died the previous year while giving birth to their 14th child. It is said that over 1,000 elephants and 20,000 craftsmen were needed to move heavy materials and complete the building work. Widely regarded as being one of the most beautiful and romantic buildings in the world, the majority of […]