There really are so many words I could use to describe our trip to Agra from Delhi, but after seeing the Taj Mahal, the only word that comes to mind is awe. So many people who have seen it before me told me that it’s something that’s beauty you don’t understand until you’re actually there, and it’s true. Pictures do not do the palace justice.
As we walked under the twenty-two crowns that mark the years it took to build the palace that is dedicated to his wife, emulating heaven in the King’s beliefs, my eyes couldn’t even believe what they were seeing. We had already seen the structure from afar the day before from Agra Fort, but being in its presence so up close is unreal. It took me a minute to just stand there and soak it in. Being the first person in my family to visit the Taj Mahal was a big deal to me, so I wanted to appreciate the moment extra for them.
Our wonderful tour guide, after we took our several pictures with the Taj, told us several interesting stories and facts about the Taj Mahal. For example, clearing up the myth that the King chopped off the artists hands after they were done working on this piece of art, telling us that he only asked them to never create something more grandiose and beautiful and amazing as this piece of art they’ve helped him create. The entire place is symmetrical down the middle in almost every single way, except for the King’s tomb placed to the left of his wife’s inside the palace.
It amazes me how perfect the palace really is, being almost four hundred years old, down to every small detail you can find. There are so many little, and I mean little, semi-precious gemstones embedded into the beautiful structure. Patterns, flowers, and designs decorate the cool, marble walls and floors. We had to put on feet covers so that we didn’t dirty up the floors and drag in any unwanted mess. Anu, our tour guide, said that we were contributing by shining the floors with these feetie-covers.
I felt the need to touch all the walls so I could try and not forget the feeling of being in this monumental edifice. The perfection achieved such a long time ago in every single detail of every inch you can find is perplexing, and exceeds the work we have today even with machines, in my eyes. What skilled artists were able to perfect each shape down to the curve and size in all areas of the Taj Mahal, from top to bottom, left to right.
The inside was not nearly as large as I had expected it to be, however. It was explained to us that the outside dome is much larger than the inside dome shell in order to maintain a certain temperature to preserve the wife’s body in her tomb, creating a cooler temperature on the inside due to the air and stones.
Needless to say, the trip to the Taj Mahal was the opposite of a let down. It was more than I had expected in almost every single way, and I was able to experience it with such a great group of kids that made my trip to India so great. It won’t be the last time I go to the Taj, but I definitely won’t ever be forgetting this trip 🙂
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