Hey guys, today let's take a look at why Taj Mahal is loved so much by everyone.
In this video, I am going to show you a series of tricks and illusions used by the architects
to make you fall in love with this amazing structure.
The very first time you look at Taj Mahal, it will simply blow your mind.
This is because the builders use an optical illusion to trick your mind.
When you first enter through the main entrance, you see the Taj Mahal through an arch and
everything else is dark around it.
This makes your eyes focus fully on Taj Mahal, and the beauty of Taj Mahal completely engulfs
you.
But the illusion gets even better, if you walk towards the Taj Mahal, it will become
smaller and smaller.
And if you step back and walk away from the Taj Mahal, it will appear to get bigger and
bigger.
This is a fascinating illusion, but this is just the beginning.
Let's take a closer look at the Taj Mahal and you begin to see columns which are made
of many sides.
Let's examine this column - you can see that it has a total of 6 sides with zigzag lines
painted all over it.
But does it really consist of 6 sides?
If you examine this closely you will figure out that these are not 2 sides, but one, this
is a flat piece.
The entire column consists of just 4 sides, but the lines are painted in such a way that
it appears to have more sides.
An actual optical illusion, to trick your brain into thinking that the structure is
more complex that it actually is.
Even if you zoom in completely, and look at it for several minutes, you don't understand
this unless you feel the sides, this is not easy to understand.
But look at these lines carefully and you can see something very interesting.
These are not painted, they are stones embedded on top of white marble.
In fact, there is not even a trace of paint on Taj Mahal, all these designs, these flowers
and even the writings all over the walls are made of made of precious and semi-precious
stones which are carefully glued on top of white marble.
And these stones have a weird property.
They gleam when light shines on it.
If you take a flash light, and shine it on these stones, they will glow like light bulbs.
I have shown you the secret view into the bathroom of Queen Mumtaj, which uses mirrors
instead of stones and the visual effect is amazing.
The Taj Mahal employs stones of various colors and this creates a gleaming effect on these
designs, during sunlight and even moonlight.
This makes visitors wonder why certain paintings are glowing on Taj Mahal which is made completely
out of white marble.
But is the Taj Mahal made completely out of white marble?
Actually it is not, if you look at the aerial view, it shows that red sandstone has been
used on the top.
But this is not visible for anyone who is on the ground.
The Taj Mahal doesn't look that impressive when you see it from the air, because of the
red sandstone which is native to the land, but the architects knew that people who view
the taj mahal from the ground level cannot see this.
A clever architectural trick, which makes you think that the Taj Mahal is made completely
out of white marble.
The white marble structure has some peculiar properties.
Like a Chameleon, it changes color according to the time of the day.
It looks slightly pinkish in the morning, and takes on a weird transparent shade on
foggy days, appears white throughout the day, and looks golden in moon light.
This is one of the reasons why Taj Mahal is revisited by many tourists, it gets more than
7 million visitors every year.
Now, let's take a look at the stone inlays here - Here you can see this yellow branch
going under the dark green one and coming out on top.
These are individual yellow stones placed around the dark green stone.
Everything is set at the same level on white marble, nothing goes underneath or over anything.
Not just the flowers, leaves and fruits, but even these curvy stems are semi-precious stones,
cut and placed, with such precision that you don't see any joints at all.
This is the Brilliance behind this artwork to makes it look realistic.
Let me zoom in here, and if you observe carefully, you can see something depressing.
There are 2 flowers missing here.
These were originally made of diamonds, and were plucked out by British soldiers in 1857.
The rest of the stones are semi-precious, this is why they haven't touched them.
Even today, people attempt to steal what's left over from Taj Mahal and other such monuments.
Here you can see that people have recently taken these red stones out.
But there are designs made completely out of white marble, which are also mind boggling.
This is just one piece of stone showing a floral design.
But if you start looking at these designs carefully and you begin to see many hidden
figures.
Intertwined snakes, an ancient symbol.
A Scorpion, A butterfly and many other animals start to come out.
And here is a giant block of white marble and see how they have made so many hexagonal
designs out of it.
Inside the Taj Mahal these designs get even more complicated, and make you wonder how
they were created.
So, you can see how a series of optical illusions and design techniques can make you fall in
love with the Taj Mahal.
These are the reasons why it was declared as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World
in 2007, it got more than 100 million votes.
I am Praveen Mohan, I hope you liked this video, and please watch the other video which
shows the secret underground zone of Taj Mahal.
Thanks a lot for watching, don't forget to subscribe and also click on the bell button
to get all the updates.
Like and share this video with your friends and I will talk to you soon.
Bye!