Where Is the Taj Mahal? by Dorothy Hoobler & Thomas Hoobler & Who HQ

Author:Dorothy Hoobler & Thomas Hoobler & Who HQ [Hoobler, Dorothy & Hoobler, Thomas & Who HQ]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2017-01-24T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 6

The Plan Grows Larger

finial

As the work continued, Shah Jahan’s vision became bigger. The tomb building would be part of a much larger complex. The grand mausoleum (the building containing the body of Mumtaz) would be at the center of everything.

The mausoleum was to sit on a platform, or plinth. It measured 312 square feet and was twenty-three feet high. The building would be topped by an immense white marble dome shaped like a giant pearl.

On top of the dome was a finial, a rod with three globes and a crescent moon, a symbol of Islam. The three globes represent animals, humans, and angels. (Originally the finial was made of gold, but it has been replaced by one of gilded bronze.)

The shape of the building itself formed a square with flattened corners that turned it into an octagon. At each of the four corners of the mausoleum there was to be a 130-foot-high minaret. (Minarets are towers that Muslim religious leaders climb to call the faithful to prayer.) The minarets on the Taj Mahal were made to lean slightly outward so that if they ever fell, they would not harm the building.

Around the main dome there would be four smaller domes, each the same shape as the main one. Niches and false doorways around the sides of the building repeated the design of the central doorway.

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