Taj Majal

One of the most famous buildings in the world is the Taj Mahal. It's in India, in the city of Agra, and it's known for being not only absolutely beautiful, but massive. People call it a symbol of love, but the name means Crown of the Palace. It was built by Emperor Shah Jahan for his wife Mumtaz Mahal when she passed away. The emperor wanted to honor his wife in a way that would show the world how beautiful she was. The Shah decided to build a tomb as beautiful as Mumtaz. He wanted the world to know how much he loved her. He also wanted it to be built so it would last forever just like his love for his wife.

Shah Jahan would have never imagined that seven or eight million people would visit the city of Agra and the Taj Mahal every year. He probably would have been shocked to know it would become one of the seven wonders of the world. He did know Taj Mahal was a sacred site because it is a mausoleum that is the home to the tomb where Mumtaz is buried. This type of mausoleum was very important to the people of the Mughal Empire. It connected the person buried inside with eternal life.

Thousands of people worked to design and finish the building and it took them 22 years. One of the coolest facts about the Taj Mahal is how it was built in a time when there were no trains or semi-trucks to move the special materials from all over the world. The marble used to construct the building is a very special type of stone that came from 124 miles away. This stone was moved down the Yamuna River using boats. The materials came from all over Asia, and it took over 1,000 elephants to carry it all.

The symmetry of the Taj Mahal is important because it represents the idea of divine perfection.  Symmetry means that if you cut something in half both parts are identical to the other. The perfect symmetry showed how much power the emperor had. In the center of the building is a dome that is taller than a 24 story building. The large dome is surrounded by four smaller domes. On each corner of the building are four spires, called minarets. Around the entire building there are four gardens. That is important because the number four is a sacred number to the Muslim faith.