Taj Mahal – the architectural inspiration to many

The great architectural marvel of Taj Mahal is among one of the world’s renowned structure, was built by Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan (reigned 1628–1658), to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. This marvelous structure stands tall in Agra, along the banks of river Yamuna. Construction of the mausoleum was essentially completed in 1643 but work continued on other phases of the project for another 10 years. The Taj Mahal complex is believed to have been completed in its entirety in 1653 at a cost estimated at the time to be around 32 million rupees

However, some little known facts are as follows :

There’s a replica of this structure in Bangladesh, which is known as Taj Mahal of Bangladesh, built by Ahsanullah Moni, a wealthy Bangladeshi film-maker. Construction began in 2003, but Mr Moni says that he came up with the idea in 1980 when he first visited the real Taj in Agra, India. He said that his homage had been built because most people living in Bangladesh – where nearly half of the population exist below the poverty line – cannot afford to travel to India to see the real thing.

Faizul Hasan Qadri, a retired postmaster from Kaser Kalan village (around 50km from Bulandshahr in western Uttar Pradesh), from India, also started building a small replica of the original structure in his village to show his love for his beloved wife. The 80-year-old retired postmaster, who had exhausted all his savings in building a “mini” Taj Mahal in Bulandshahr in the memory of his late wife, has got financial aid from the Uttar Pradesh government in constructing the mausoleum, in which he wishes to be buried beside his woman. Qadri said that he has spent Rs 14 lakh on the building, including provident fund and gratuity. And now it has become a piece of attraction for the villagers in Uttar Pradesh.