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Costs of Taj Mahal and materials used in Taj Mahal
Costs & Materials
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Soft Stone - This art dates back to the era of "making of Taj Mahal". The Eight Wonder of the World is made in Pure Marble in the ancient city of Agra. The work on Soft Stone is the legacy of the craftsmanship done on Taj Mahal. Today, soft stone (not the same as the one used in Taj) is given shape into various decorative and display articles like elephant/dodo bird/other animal shapes, boxes, pencil stands, oil burners, votives and others. The TAJ MAHAL is also made using this stone. The Taj Mahal was constructed using materials from all over India and Asia. Over 1,000 elephants were used to transport building materials during the construction. The translucent white marble was brought from Rajasthan, the jasper from Punjab and the jade and crystal from China. The turquoise was from Tibet and the Lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, while the sapphire came from Sri Lanka and the carnelian from Arabia. In all, 28 types of precious and semi-precious stones were inlaid into the white marble. |
The total cost of the Taj Mahal's construction was about 50 million rupees. At that time, 1 gram of gold was sold for about 1.4 rupees. Based on the October 2005 gold price that would translate to more than 500 million US$. (Comparisons based on the value of gold in two different economic eras are often misleading, however). Material Used
Along with the labourers flocking to Agra, materials for construction also began arriving : principally red sandstone from local quarries and marble dug from the hills of far-off Makrana, slightly southwest of Jaipur in Rajasthan.
Although the treasury was well filled, such prodigious quantities of rare stuffs were required that caravans travelled to all corners of the empire and beyond in search of precious materials. From Chinese Turkestan in Central Asia came Nephrite jade and crystal; from Tibet, turquoise; from upper Burma, yellow amber; from Badakhshan in the high mountains of northeastern Afghanistan, lapis lazuli; from Egypt, chrysolite; from the Indian Ocean, rare shells, coral, and mother-of-pearl.
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