Taj Mahal - Ruby

A beautiful mausoluem, and one of the most amazing buildings on earth, the Taj Mahal is definitely the star of india! It was build in 1931 by the order of Shah Jahan, who was the emperor at the time. His plan was for his wife, Mumtaz Mahal, to lie there in peace, after she died while giving birth to their fourtenth son. In 1648 the Taj Mahal had opened but not to the puplic, only the emperors were ever allowed to visit.

It is a ginormous structure, being 73 metres high and 111 metres wide! Leading up to the Taj Mahal is a long, man made river the reflects the Taj Mahal on its surface which makes the perfect picture. The Taj also has a large garden surounding it, that has neatly cut hedges and well looked after trees and flowers. Just with one look at the garden and river, you can tell that the Taj Mahal is very cared for. Since the Taj Mahal is very old and very important, there are small things you must do to keep that place safe and sacred. Firstly, no photos inside the Taj, only looking with your eyes. This is why it is very hard to find pictures of the Taj Mahal from the inside, only the outside. Next, you have to wear special covers over your shoes, you can get these from stalls set up near the entrance to the Taj. You don't have to pay for these, they come with your ticket. Wearing these will keep your shoes from bringing in dirt into the Taj.

Inside the Taj Mahal, you can see some incredible designs all over the walls and roof, at first glace you may think these are just paintings but if you look a bit closer you can see that these are not paintings but in-laid stones. Each of these stones had to be cut into shape by hand and these put together with other stones to create a picture. Just shaping one tiny picture can take weeks so you can just imagine how much work would have gone into making a whole room full of them. The entire Taj Mahal is completely symmetrical, everything on every side is exactly the same! Its crazy how every simple detail is copied on the opposite side!

If you ever go to the Taj Mahal, you might want to dress up for the occasion! That's what many people like to do when they go there to, most of the ladies like to dress in Sari's, which are traditional dresses in india! Some people just wear simple dresses though, with jewlery and hair accessories! When we went to the Taj, Mila, Hazel and I all wore our dresses there, all of our dresses were very different to each others though with Hazel's being the most traditional and Mila's one being the most western.

I loved the Taj Mahal as it was a simply amazing place, it was just stunning building and there was so much to see! I would recommend going as early as you can because it gets super busy, another tip is to take all of your family photos in front of the Taj first and go inside of it after because if you wait for too long, too many people want to get there photo and it gets crazy!

I hope you enjoyed this blog about the Taj Mahal!

- Ruby