Taj Mahal, India

During my journey to India, I was lucky enough to visit Taj Mahal, which is famous due to the romantic background story and the breath-taking architectural and interior designs of the palace. Taj Mahal is an old palace, which was named byg iving, meaning of “Crown of the palace”. Taj Mahal was constructed in 1632 at the river bank of Yamuna river in the city call Agra, India. The palace was constructed right after the death of his beloved wife by the royal emperor Saha Jahan to dedicate his love for her beloved wife, Mumtaz who was a Persian princess. According to the history she was died after giving the birth for their fourteenth child. Even if, Saha Jahan had three wifes, she was the one, who took the whole heart of the king. After the death of Mumtaz, he buried the body of Mumtaz in this palace.

The construction of the palace was run more than 20 years and the whole place was constructed stage by stage. According to the tour guide books, they have used more than 20000 of workers along with thousands of elephants for the construction activities and to carry marbles and stones. The palace was constructed according to the architectural design of the Ustad Ahmad Lahouri, who designed the red fort in Delhi, India. Even if this is the best example for Mughal architecture, we can see the palace has been beautified with the Indian and Persian influences.

The palace was decorated with ivory white marbles and pink marbles. According to the history, Royal emperor imported the pink marbles from Sri Lankan specially, for this palace and at the end of the construction, emperor made blind the persons who constructed the whole palace in order to prevent them constructing another palace like Taj Mahal.

The place is widely spread in a huge land and consisted with guest’s house, gardens, ponds and a mosque.

Taj Mahal was declared as a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the wonders of the seven world wonders. So, it is one of the important site in India.

To enter to Taj Mahal, we should buy a ticket. Tickets price are different for locals and foreign tourists. Prices are higher for foreign tourists. I did not wonder about this situation since it is same in most of the Asian countries. It took more than two hours for us to finish the journey in the palace. So, I recommend going to the palace early in the morning since you can enjoy the place and surrounding peacefully. We went there in the morning and we could enjoy the palace scenery with the mist in the morning. It was so beautiful.

We had a tour guide for providing more information about the palace. Even if you don’t have a tour guide, do not worry since you can find tour guide around the place. But, when you choose a guide, pay your attention about their English language skills and the knowledge about the places. Because most of the time, there are lot of tour guide who do not have adequate knowledge about the place and the language.

But, if you have adequate knowledge about the history of the place and other things, then no need to hire a tour guide. Most of the time, tour guides come and say, that they can have a quick entry to the palace, while you are staying in the entrance queue. They arrange tours and charge higher prices for skipping the line. Even if, there are lot of tourists to visit this place in each day, you do not have to wait so many hours in the queue. So, do not waste your money since these people charge higher prices from the tourists. In order to save your time in the queue, I advise you to buy tickets online, then you can skip to queue for purchasing the tickets and you can directly go to the entrance and checking queue.

Besides that, I recommend visiting the official web site for information of closing dates since my tour guide told me that the palace is closed for visitors on Fridays. So, check the opening dates and times online. According to my knowledge, the palace is open from 6. 00 a. m. from the morning to 7. 00p. m. in the evening. Besides that, the mosque will be open from 12. 00 noon to 2. 00 p. m. Even if I haven’t try this, our tour guide informed us that the palace will be open in the fool moon days for night visits since the palace is more beautiful and elegant on those days.

If you go to India, then do not miss this place. Go and enjoy.

Taj Mahal is an iconic monument in India. Many consider this monument as a true wonder of the world because of its beautiful architecture. Millions of people visit the Taj Mahal every year as it is the most popular destination in India. Taj Mahal tours are available for tourists visiting Agra and neighboring cities like Delhi and Jaipur.

Taj Mahal is a 17th-century white-ivory marble mausoleum that Mughal emperor Shah Jahan built in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal. This monument has been seen as a symbol of love by many and this adds to the overall popularity of this tourist destination in Agra. This monument took 22 years to build in the 17th-century and has a blend of Persian and Islamic architecture.