|
March 20, 1997
INDIA GUIDE
TRAVEL DESK
EVENTS
AIRLINES
SEARCH
|
The Taj Mahal vs the Acropolis
... a comparison of the two forgotten wonders of the ancient world... venues for Yanni concerts...
Vaihayasi P Daniel
Taj Mahal
|
Acropolis
|
|
|
Born
1648 AD. However the first foundation stones were laid 22 years earlier.
|
Born
Circa 447 BC.
|
Location
On the banks of the Yamuna river at Agra, in the state of Uttar Pradesh in northern India.
|
Location
On top of a craggy hill overlooking the Greek city of Athens.
|
Climate
Temperatures as high as 42 degrees Celsius beat down on the monument. And the Taj weathers 30 inches of rainfall every year.
|
Climate
For well over two thousand years the Acropolis has withstood temperatures as blisteringly warm as 33 degrees Celsius and showers on nearly 105 days of the year.
|
In honour of
The Taj was a mausoleum built in the memory of Shah Jahan’s third wife, Arjumand Banu Begum, nicknamed Mumtaz Mahal, or chosen one of the palace, who died in childbirth in Burhanpur, UP, in 1631, after delivering her 14th child. Her cenotaph is located within the Taj. However, the Taj is also meant to depict the throne of the almighty in paradise.
|
In honour of
Athena, the city protectress and a goddess of war, who sprang from the forhead of Zeus. It was said that the Acropolis in Athens was her city and she was the city's patron goddess because historically a king’s palace had not been ever erected there.
|
Built by
Shah Jahan, the Mughal emperor from 1628 AD to 1658 AD, who also built the Red Fort. He is said to have conceived the basic design with the help of a council of architects. Most historical texts say that Persian-Indian architect Ustad Ahmad Lahori was responsible for executing this design. Others believe the chief architect to be Ustad Isa of perhaps Turkish or Persian descent. It is also believed that architect Amanat Khan worked on the inscriptions and calligraphy that bedeck the tomb. Some 20,000 workers, who came from India and Central Asia, helped build the Taj Mahal.
|
Built by
Pericles. But Peisistratus, a leader during the Archean era, was believed to be responsible for the first round of expansion and renovation in 546 BC of the ancient Acropolis, especially the temple dedicated to Athena, prior to the onslaught of the Persians.
But the Acropolis was rebuilt and further developed from 447 BC onwards by Pericles, who is regarded as one of the greatest statesman of ancient Greece. The Parthenon, the temple dedicated to Athena, was designed by architect Ictinus, while the Propylaea, the gateway, was designed by Mnesicles. And it is surmised that several persons helped design the Erectheum, temple that houses cults to Poseidon as well as Athena.
|
Materials used
White Makrana marble brought from Rajasthan, was the main material used in the construction of the Taj. Various types of precious and semi-precious stones were used to adorn the plain white marble facade like -- lapis lazuli, pietra dura, crystal, jade, malachite, amethyst, onyx, jade, turquoise, mother of pearl, red sandstone, silver, gold, carnelian, jasper, moonstone and coral and were ferried in from as far flung places as Tibet, Russia, Afghanistan, Persia and China.
|
Materials used
Pentellic marble
|
Cost
Rs 40 million then.
|
Cost
Not known.
|
Foes
Theft. Pollution. Acid rain -- the result of sulphur dioxide fumes, belched from factories nearby, getting swilled with rain -- is said to be eating into the pristine white stonework of the Taj. The marble cancer that has set in as a result is responsible for a slow yellowing of the monument and in places the marble is flaking off as dust.
|
Foes
The Acropolis was in peril several times over the last two thousand years. First the Christians converted one of the buildings to a Church of St Mary in 450 AD and Christian art decorated the walls of the ancient town.
The Byzantines, Justinian and Theodosius, swiped a couple of statues from the Acropolis. The Turks converted one of the buildings into a mosque and another into a harem in the 1400s. And most grave of all, the Venetian artillery fired shells on the Acropolis in 1687 and were a hair's breadth away from destroying the entire citadel. British ambassador Lord Elgin stole 50 fragments of sculpture -- the Elgin Marbles -- from the Acropolis that are today housed in the British Museum. The theft still casts a shadow on Anglo-Greek diplomatic relations.To see a sample click.
The Acropolis has been under siege by other agents of destruction too -- earthquakes, sulphur-dioxide saturated smog, covetous archeologists and the tramping of feet of zillions of tourists.
|
Famous visitors to the Taj
Aurangzeb, Rudyard Kipling, Mark Twain, Noel Coward, Princess Diana (minus Prince Charles), Rupert Murdoch, Yanni
|
Famous visitors to the Acropolis
Emperors Justinian and Theodosius, Lord Elgin, Yanni
|
What they said about the Taj Mahal
Mark Twain, author: "You cannot keep your enthusiasms down, you cannot keep your emotions within bounds when that soaring bubble of marble breaks upon your view."
SJ Perelman, humourist: "Seen in the first pale flush of sunrise, with a cool wind stirring the treetops in the adjacent gardens, it has the fragile delicacy of a soap bubble; no other building I have ever seen has conveyed to me quite that degree of airy grace, of absolute purity."
Rabindranath Tagore, poet: "A tear on the face of eternity"
Paul Theroux, author: "The Taj Mahal is not merely lovely -- it looks as if it had a soul."
|
What they said about the Acropolis
Herman Melville, author: "Blocks of marble like sticks of Wenham ice -- or like huge cakes of wax... the Parthenon elevated like (a) cross of Constantine... A strange contrast of rugged rock with polished marble."
Edmund Wilson, author: "Above the low roofs of Athens the Acropolis rises on its pedestal of rock: astonishing, dramatic, divine, with at the same time the look of a phantom
Lawrence Durrell, author: "Those who tiptoe round the Acropolis today in their thousands hardly realise that they are looking at something like an empty barn."
Cyril Connolly, author: " A thing of beauty that is a joy once or twice, and afterwards a standing reproach."
|
"A teardrop on the face of eternity" ... A travel slide show on the Taj.
|
|
