- Islamic architecture focuses on balanced forms and interwoven motifs, as in this Mughal mosque.Photos.com/Photos.com/Getty Images
Vinay Lal, of UCLA's Manas program, calls the Mughal period one of a "remarkable flowering of art and architecture," a fact attributed to three causes: the empire's economic and political stability, which enabled artists to work; the empire's great wealth, which financed what might otherwise be considered unaffordable luxuries; and the Mughal rulers' appreciation for and patronage of the arts. Muslim law forbids idol worship, and this restriction extends to a ban on representations of people or animals in artwork. This stricture, along with Islam's tenets of balance and unity, powerfully inform Muslim art, explains Elisabeth Siddiqui of Colorado State University. Typical of Islamic art, textiles and architectural embellishment is "a unique character, utilizing a number of primary forms: geometric, arabesque, floral, and calligraphic, which are often interwoven." This character is evident in Mughal monuments and other creations. - The white-marble Taj Mahal took 22 years to build.Hemera Technologies/Photos.com/Getty Images
The most famous Mughal monument -- and one of the most recognizable buildings in the world -- is the Taj Mahal. It was built by Emperor Shah Jahan, after his wife Mumtaz died in childbirth in 1631. The white marble monument took 22 years and the labor of some 20,000 workers to complete. Decorated with precious and semi-precious stones from around Asia and the Middle East, the Taj Mahal includes the tomb itself, a mosque and a formal garden. The British Museum calls it "a visual summary of the wealth and splendour of the Mughal Empire." - Mughal emperors and nobles built large, elaborate tombs.Hemera Technologies/Photos.com/Getty Images
Among the earliest of Mughal monuments is the tomb of Babur in Kabul, renamed Bagh-e Babur. The height of Mughal architecture came decades later, however. UCLA's Lal considers the Mausoleum of Akbar at Sikandra, built after 1605, to be "a major turning point," marking a transition of the impressive sandstone monuments of Akbar to the still more fabulous marble creations of his successors. One of the last great Mughal tombs was Bibi-ki-Maqbara, built by Shah Jahan's son Aurangzeb for his own wife; modeled on his father's famous Taj Mahal, Bibi-ki-Maqbara is half the size and considered less well balanced in design. - Red sandstone and white marble are popular construction materials in Mughal mosques and palaces.Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
The Mughals also built beautiful mosques and palaces. For example, Jahan said of his capital, the Red Fort in Delhi, "If there is Paradise on earth, it is here, it is here." The great emperor Akbar constructed the Red Fort in the late 16th century, but he also built his own remarkably beautiful capital, Fatehpur Sikri, which had to be abandoned because it lacked adequate water. Jahan built other structures, in addition to the Taj Mahal; among these is the Pearl Mosque, formally known as the Moti Masjid. Its simple but grand and balanced design and its white marble walls make it stand out from the red sandstone-fort complex.
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