Synopses & Reviews
The greatest monument to love, and the lost world of the Agra gardens and their characterful owners, re-created through superb scholarship and evocative illustrations.The Taj Mahal is the epitome of Mughal art and one of the most famous buildings in the world. Yet there have been few serious studies of it and no full analysis of its architecture and meaning.Ebba Koch is the only scholar who has been permitted to take measurements of the complex. She has been working on the palaces and gardens of Shah Jahan for thirty years and on the Taj Mahal itselfthe tomb of the emperor's wife, Mumtaz Mahalfor a decade.
The tomb represents the house of the queen in Paradise, and the author shows how its setting was based on the palace gardens of the great nobles that lined both sides of the river at Agra. She leads the reader through the entire complex of the Taj Mahal, with an explanation of each building and an account of the mausoleum's urban setting, its design and construction, its symbolic meaning, and its history up to the present day.
The book features hundreds of new photographs plus drawings by the Indian architect Richard Barraud that include plans and reconstructions of Agra and the Taj complex as they looked in Shah Jahan's time.
Synopsis
Leads the reader through the complex and gardens of the Taj Mahal, illustrated by hundreds of photographs and drawings and with an in-depth explanation of each building. This work gives an account of the mausoleum's urban setting, its design and construction, its symbolic meaning, and its history.
About the Author
Ebba Koch is Professor of Art History at the University of Vienna. Her Mughal Architecture has become the standard work on the subject. 378 illustrations, 218 in color.