Guest dada_rocks Posted July 9, 2007 Posted July 9, 2007 You have my vote there, have had debate on this issue many times.. Dont you guys think India has better monuments anyway? I sure do. The Taj may be hewn from marble, with presious inlays, but there are temples in India that took centuries to carve out of almost dimond-hard rock, in such detail that even someone using computer aided design would have a hard time replicating them. That coupled with enormous scale. There are very few monuments more impressive, and the Taj is not one of them. This exercise is money making has only served to re-inforce the steriotypical image of India as some land of boring domes.
Gambit Posted July 9, 2007 Posted July 9, 2007 Breathtaking architecture! Thanks for the pictures GP.
Stuge Posted October 8, 2011 Posted October 8, 2011 LONDON: The Taj Mahal will collapse within five years unless urgent action is taken to fix its rotting foundations, campaigners warn. The 358-year-old marble mausoleum is India's most famous tourist attraction, bringing four million visitors a year to the northern city of Agra. But the river crucial to its survival is being blighted by pollution, industry and deforestation. Campaigners believe the foundations have become brittle and are disintegrating. Cracks appeared last year in parts of the tomb, and the four minarets, which surround the monument, are showing signs of tilting. The Taj Mahal was built by Mogul emperor Shah Jahan, who was grief-stricken by the death of his wife Mumtaz Mahal in childbirth. A campaign group of historians, environmentalists and politicians say time is running out to prevent a 'looming crisis'. "If the crisis is not tackled on a war-footing, the Taj Mahal will cave in between two and five years," the Daily Mail quoted Ramshankar Katheria, the MP for Agra who is leading the campaign, as saying. "The architectural wonder of the world is losing its shine, and if this persists the minarets may also collapse since the wooden foundation - beneath the wells - is rotting due to lack of water. "No one has been allowed to go into the foundations for the last three decades. If everything is fine, what have they got to hide?" Professor Ram Nath, a historian who is one of the world's leading authorities on the Taj, said: "The Taj stands just on the edge of the river Yamuna which has now dried up. "This was never anticipated by its builders. The river is a constituent of its architectural design and if the river dies, the Taj cannot survive," he added. http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-10-05/news/30246987_1_taj-mahal-minarets-marble-mausoleum
Stuge Posted October 8, 2011 Posted October 8, 2011 other hand "Experts deny Taj Mahal 'collapse' claims" AGRA, India — Archeologists overseeing the upkeep of the Taj Mahal denied on Friday a press report that said the iconic structure could collapse in as little as two years because of its weakened foundations. The white marble mausoleum, known as the "monument of love" after it was built by a former Mughal emperor as a tribute to his dead wife, attracts four million tourists a year to the northern Indian town of Agra. It stands on the banks of the depleted and polluted river Yamuna, which provides moisture to wooden structures that hold up the onion-shaped dome and its four minarets. Earlier this week, Britain's Daily Mail newspaper quoted Agra's elected parliamentarian Ramshankar Katheria as saying the Taj would "cave in between two and five years" if conservation efforts were not launched. The Archeological Survey of India (ASI), which began a major facelift for the Taj Mahal in 2007, dismissed the dire predictions for the 358-year-old monument. "We have been having regular tests conducted and agencies including Survey of India have never pointed out such threats to the survival of the Taj Mahal," ASI's chief archeologist in Agra, I.D. Dwivedi, told AFP. Katheria denied forecasting a collapse within five years but he told AFP that he had conveyed his fears for the future of the Taj to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Pratibha Patil more than once. "I am demanding a high-level enquiry to analyse the severe threat posed to the wooden structures in the foundation of the Taj," the MP said. He warned that the supporting timber was turning brittle because the level of Yamuna was declining due to the over-extraction of water by residents and businesses. "The timber in the plinth of the Taj would soon corrode and termites could set in unless it quickly finds a source of moisture," Katheria said in an interview. "The acrid dust from the dry riverbed is also dulling the domes of the Taj and the government must build a barrage across Yamuna to keep its water levels high," Katheria, who belongs to the main opposition BJP party, added. The Taj, a popular backdrop to photos of tourists in India, was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan as a tomb for his beloved empress, Mumtaz Mahal, who died while giving birth to their 14th child in 1631. India's Supreme Court in 1996 declared a 10,400-square-kilometre (4,015-square mile) area as a protected zone for the Taj Trapezium Zone after industries were found to be contributing to the monument's yellowing. It ordered 292 coal-based factories to switch to natural gas or relocate outside the zone by April 30, 1997. Conventional vehicles have also been banned within a 500-metre radius of the building http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j9XrCxtdMpCdKMcSamENRt7o0dTg?docId=CNG.3f2f95e33765a36d1f4aa9f46af18f0e.441
Yoda-esque Posted October 8, 2011 Posted October 8, 2011 :omg: umm..You wouldnt say that if you knew him:cantstop:
DomainK Posted October 8, 2011 Posted October 8, 2011 umm..You wouldnt say that if you knew him:cantstop: Seems you knew him and you are jealous that he did not build a mahal for you. You are jealous of Mumtaj. :headshake:
Yoda-esque Posted October 8, 2011 Posted October 8, 2011 Seems you knew him and you are jealous that he did not build a mahal for you. You are jealous of Mumtaj. :headshake: I probably mis-quoted..I should have said "some things about him"
Stuge Posted October 8, 2011 Posted October 8, 2011 "Mumtaz Mahal had 14 children. Despite her frequent pregnancies, she travelled with Shah Jahan's entourage throughout his earlier military campaigns and the subsequent rebellion against his father. Mumtaz Mahal was utterly devoted — she was his constant companion and trusted confidante and their relationship was intense. She is portrayed by Shah Jahan's chroniclers as the perfect wife with no aspirations to political power. This is in direct opposition to how Nur Jahan had been perceived. She died an accidental death, while giving birth to her 14th child" WOW!!
Sir john Posted October 8, 2011 Posted October 8, 2011 i visited taj few month ago,its look ik for me.
WC2011INDIA Posted October 8, 2011 Posted October 8, 2011 Time to admit something.............I have yet to visit the Taj Mahal. :((
Clarke Posted October 8, 2011 Posted October 8, 2011 The wood's survived hundreds of years of moisture ? I am not sure if its been regularly complemented/replaced.
Stuge Posted October 8, 2011 Posted October 8, 2011 i visited taj few month ago' date='its look ik for me.[/quote'] abe they are talking about foundation which is hidden and can't be seen by public . Between in 2500 AD .. people from abroad will come to see mayawati ka makbara
Stuge Posted October 8, 2011 Posted October 8, 2011 Maya Mahal in progress :D shot this two months back ,
WC2011INDIA Posted October 8, 2011 Posted October 8, 2011 Maya Mahal :D shot this two months back , In which city is this being built?
Stuge Posted October 8, 2011 Posted October 8, 2011 In which city is this being built? Noida . its real name is "kanshi ram memorial"
WC2011INDIA Posted October 8, 2011 Posted October 8, 2011 Noida . its real name is "kanshi ram memorial" cool.
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