India
/ Agra / History
Agra was the
chosen city of the Mughal emperors during the early yeas. It was
here that founder of the dynasty, Babur, laid out die flat formal
Persian garden on the banks of the River Yamuna. Here Akbar, his
grandson, raised the towering ramparts of the great Red Fort.
Within Its walls Jehangir built rose-red palaces, courts and gardens
Shahjehan embellished it with marbled mosques, palaces and pavilions
of gem-inlaid white marble.
At Sikandra,
on the outskirts of Agra, Akbur built his own garden mausoleum.
And at Fatehpur Sikri he created a whole new city - a leap of
the imagination that made real a unique concept of planning and
design and gave expression to a style of architecture that was
a perfect blend of Islamic spatial concepts and the Hindu genius
for decorative sculpture. Across the river Jehangir's gifted queen,
Noorjehan, deigned an exquisite marble-inlaid tomb for her parents.
But Agra's crowning glory remains the Taj Mahal, a monument to
love built by Shahjehan in memory of his beloved queen, Mumtaz
Mal.
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