Taj MahalPersonal travel impressions in stories and pictures from Taj Mahal, India. Click on the pictures to enlarge, send as a free e-card, or download for personal use. You can locate Taj Mahal and navigate the world using Google Earth Show on map
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One of those world famous monuments, and world famous images, is one of the seven World Wonders, the Taj Mahal, a marble mecca for love. And although sometimes places like these tend to get overrated and overvisited, I must say that I was happily surprised to see such a well kept place, which left a lasting impression on me. I had always heard stories of having been there before, when I was only two years old, but apart from the few pictures which were supposed to serve as testimonies for that fact, my memory definitely did not go back so far in time. Still, it gave me a strange feeling to visit a place where I rationally knew I had been before, but which emotionally was entirely new to me.
A huge monument to love for his deceased wife Mumtaz Mahal (who actually died while giving birth), the Taj Mahal was finished in 1653. According to legend, Shah Jahan's hair turned grey overnight for sorrow of his lost love. It has obviously been a major task to build the monument. Especially when you come closer to the Taj, it becomes clear that the building is not just white, but is very delicately ornamented with precious stones.
Walking around the premises, I tried to imagine how a huge number of men have been working many years to finish it. Then, in one corner, I found a small task force which was actually cleaning one part of the monument - with tooth brushes! Building the Taj has been a major accomplishment, but maintaining it is at least as large a task...