Day 5 (14/02/12) - Agra

The Taj Mahal and the Red Fort

For most Americans, the stereotypical icon of India is the Taj Mahal.  And it is truly wondrous, although there is much else that I've seen so far in India that is equally wondrous.  Our guide spent some time pointing out the various aspects of the Taj Mahal that make it nearly entirely symetrical.  And, as you walk around it and up to it and even at times through it, there are various optical illusions that occur.  And while those are somewhat interesting in the moment, I'm more impressed by the majesty of the building.   The following photo shows one of the classic views of the Taj Mahal but with an optical illusion (or camera lens aberration) that was not discussed by our tour leader.  In fact he discussed an optical illusion exactly the opposite.  But in either case the 4 minarets are straight towers, not leaning ones.

While it is hinted at in this picture, one of the problems around the Taj Mahal is air polutiion.  While our guide referred to "fog," what he must have meant was plain, old-fashioned smog.  They are taking steps to preserve the monument such as banning gasoline vehicles within a certain distrance, but it is sad that this problem exits here at all.

One thing that I didn't know about the Taj Mahal was the exgtensive amounts of inlayed marble.  The work consists of cutting small pieces of colored semi-precious or precious gems are placed in some cut out regions of the marble base and then affixed there.  The results are stunning. 

We got a demonstration of the technique at a nearby (high end) marble factory where managed to acquire a few pieces for home.

Later in the day we visited the Red Fort in Agra, named for its red sandstone.  It consists of a protective outer way, complete with a now-dry moat, with a variety of buildings inside that were built and used by the Mughal kings.  The use of the term fort had seemed odd before I went to India in part, I think, because Americans tend to think of a fort as a defensive structure on a frontier.  This Red Fort reminded me much more of an English castle or a French fortress-chateau.  In deed I was struck by how much the Red Fort reminded me of the Angers Chateau as shown in this photo.