View of the Taj Mahal at dawn • ISTOCK The Taj Mahal is one of the most famous works of art in the world and one of the emblematic constructions of the Mughal emperors dynasty in India. It is a majestic mausoleum and a place of pilgrimage erected by Shah Jahan, the fifth emperor of the Great Mughal dynasty, to house the body of Mumtaz Mahal, his late wife. Shah Jahan, patron prince Shah Jahan distinguished himself by the refinement of his tastes and became one of the great patrons of his dynasty. He was interested in gemology and supported the work of the court illuminators, universally renowned for the lush and elaborate ornamentation of their picture borders and for their mastery of floral motifs. A local particularity, the court painters gave enough importance to the female portrait and to the painting of harems, one-to-one meetings between lovers and nocturnal rendezvous, to have transmitted to posterity works with evocative erotic power. . Architecture is one of Shah Jahan's favorite activities. By the time he devotes to it, he admirably perpetuates the tradition of his predecessors. He completed the Red Fort of Agra and the fort of Lahore, and ordered the construction of the Red Fort of Delhi, as well as the Friday mosques of these last two cities. But his most famous work is undoubtedly the Taj Mahal, a building of universal renown not only because of its monumental proportions, but also for its balance, for the perfect measurements of each of its parts, and for its elegance and delicacy. that do not overwhelm its majestic dimensions. An anonymous architect Although we do not know the name of the architect responsible for designing the building and directing its construction, the chronicles of the time cite several people likely to have worked on this construction:Ismail Khan of Turkey, Amanat Khan of Shiraz, Makramat Khan or Mir Abd ul-Karim. Many craftsmen are called upon from different regions of the world to work on the decoration. According to French traveler Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, more than 20,000 workers were involved in the making. Built in very pure white marble, extracted from the quarries of Makrana, the Taj Mahal took more than 20 years, from 1632 to 1652, to be completed. The human and financial effort it required ruined the coffers of the Mughal Empire, but produced one of the major works in the history of art, which would become the symbol of India. The Taj Mahal was built in Agra, a major city in the current Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, on the banks of the Yamuna River. It is a complex of buildings spread over a vast rectangle of 17 hectares, surrounded by a great wall and including a beautiful Islamic-style garden, irrigated by canals. The complex is accessed through a monumental three-storey gate, a red sandstone iwan inlaid with marble, located at the opposite end of the river. The mausoleum is not visible from outside the enclosure. However, as soon as you cross the large octagonal door, the layout of the whole offers, thanks to meticulous calculations, a spectacular panoramic view of the monument reflected in the waters of the basin placed in the center of the garden. Also read Roxelane, the great love of Sultan Soliman At the bottom of this garden is a rectangular terrace which acts as an esplanade overlooking the river and on which are built three buildings:in the center, the main building is the mausoleum, erected at the bottom of the garden - and not in the middle, as is generally the case with Indo-Persian mausoleums. At each end of the terrace are two twin buildings built in red sandstone:the mosque, facing Mecca, and the jawab (literally the “answer”), a building that replicates the mosque and thus gives a perfect symmetry to the whole; the jawab served as a caravanserai, that is to say a pavilion that could accommodate pilgrims. These buildings are completed by two large chhatris , a raised, domed pavilion-like structure, which was a frequently used element in Indian architecture. The mausoleum takes on the appearance of a 62 m long cubic structure, to which the truncated angles give an octagonal shape. It is erected on a square terrace of 104 m side and 7.5 m high, each corner of which is provided with a minaret 52 m high. The building is accessible from the four cardinal points by four iwans, and it is crowned with an imposing central double dome surrounded by four chhatris . The interior space contains the cenotaphs of the royal couple, that is to say the empty tombs which are the replicas of those located in the underground burial chamber. The interior plan is also octagonal and has four rooms, also octagonal. The clear lightness of marble With the exquisite harmony of its proportions, the remarkable precision and virtuosity of its decoration, the Taj Mahal is a unique building in the history of art. At the four corners of the esplanade, the slightly inclined minarets seem to carry the weight of the building in perfect balance, creating an effect of unity and giving the impression that no element could have been placed elsewhere. As for the marble, its limpidity and its immaterial aspect contribute to create a magical sensation of embodiment and produce spectacular color changes depending on the intensity of the light on the building. It is thus possible to admire the pure whiteness of the Taj Mahal in the midday sun, its pinkish hue at dawn or its translucent appearance when it is illuminated by the Moon. Between the terrace and the access door extends a huge garden 300 m wide. This garden, which symbolizes the Islamic paradise, was planted with many varieties of ornamental plants, floral shrubs, fruit trees and flowers; animals such as deer, peacocks, monkeys and several species of birds frolicked freely there. In the center of the garden is a marble basin, located equidistant from the mausoleum and the monumental access door, flanked by a courtyard and arches. A taste of paradise The typical decoration of the Taj Mahal in pietra dura encrusted in white marble – a refined technique that requires extreme precision – is all the more important as it is omnipresent. The main motifs used, in reference to Paradise, are vegetal, floral or geometric. But there are also frequent verses from the Koran, which punctuate the walls with elegant calligraphy. This particular type of decoration was already present in the tomb that Emperor Jahangir had built in Agra, to house the body of his father-in-law and minister Itimad-ud-Daula – a tomb which is another jewel of the Mughal architecture. The decorative motifs harmonize perfectly with the architectural elements. Despite the impressive dimensions, this effective combination gives rise to a set that is as elegant as it is delicate. No wonder, then, that due to its pristine beauty, the Taj Mahal has been described as "an ivory door through which dreams pass", in the words of British writer Rudyard Kipling, or as " a solitary tear on the cheek of time”, as the Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore wrote. He is the superb tear of standing stone by Shah Jahan for his beloved, Mumtaz Mahal. Find out more • Taj Mahal, J.-L. Nou, A. Okada, Imprimerie Nationale, 1998.• The Imperial India of the Great Mughals, V. Bérinstain, Gallimard (Discoveries), 1997. Timeline 1526 In India, the Mughal dynasty was founded by Babur, whose empire had Kabul as its capital and extended as far as Fergana, in Uzbekistan.1627 Death of Emperor Jahangir. Shah Jahan, grandson of the great Mughal emperor Akbar (1556-1605), ascends to the throne after a fratricidal war of succession.1631 The “palace favourite” and beloved wife of Shah Jahan, Mumtaz Mahal, dies giving birth to their fourteenth child.1638 In Delhi, Shah Jahan built the city of Shahjahanabad, with the Red Fort and the Jama Masjid, the Friday mosque.1652 The construction of the Taj Mahal, in Agra, is completed. From then on it became one of the most famous and admired works of India.1658 Aurangzeb, son of Shah Jahan, seized power and imprisoned his father in the Red Fort of Agra, where the deposed emperor died in 1666. The Palace Favorite The Taj Mahal is one of the few historical monuments dedicated to love. It was built to accommodate the body of Arjumand Bano Begum, known as Mumtaz Mahal, "the favorite of the Palace". This woman, who was empress consort, was never the official wife of the monarch, even though she had been a favorite of his harem since the age of 19. It was said that the young woman accompanied the king on all his military campaigns and that the sovereign did not allow her to be away from him. Together they had 14 children, and their union lasted 19 years, until the death of Mumtaz Mahal, a sign that the emperor paid special attention to his favorite, given his multiple obligations and the many women in his gynoecium. . Legends of the Taj Mahal The history of the Taj Mahal, imbued with mystery and romanticism, has made visitors of all eras dream and has given rise to hundreds of anecdotes. According to one of the legends, Shah Jahan would have liked to build for himself a similar monument in front of the mausoleum of his favorite. Entirely made of black marble, this tomb would have been connected to the Taj Mahal by a bridge spanning the Yamuna River. This myth is based on the asymmetry of the two cenotaphs, which could suggest that the addition of that of the emperor was not premeditated. The romanticism of this hypothesis is heightened by the fact, well established, that Shah Jahan, once dethroned by his son Aurangzeb, was placed under house arrest in a tower of the Red Fort of Agra, from where he could contemplate the Taj Mahal. .
