| |
Spread over a width of 150 feet and standing tall at 100 feet, the Taj gateway is a befitting entrance to a monument as spendid as the Taj Mahal. Made of red sandstone, this three storeyed building is topped by cupolas or chattris. Records state that this gateway was completed in 1648. Decorated with the most sought after craft in the Mughal times, calligraphy was used to inscribe Holy Koranic verses on the walls of the Gateway. It seems the purpose of building this gateway might have to keep the Taj hidden from outside view until one reaches the very footsteps of the Gateway. What beholds the eyes then is completely mesmerizing. So, apart from being another grand gate for the Taj, the gateway might have been constructed to add to the surprise value of seeing the Taj for the first time.
|
|
| |
The calligrapher Amanat Khan inscribed Koranic verses on the walls of the gates of the structure for which he used the Trompe-l'œil effect (which can also be spelled without the hyphen in English as trompe l'oeil). This term in the French language means to 'deceive the eye'. This special technique in art is used to create optical illusion so that the depicted objects appear in three dimensions. In the gateway, as one starts to read the inscriptions from the bottom and goes upwards, the technique creates an illusion that shows gradual enlarging of the letters as one continues reading towards the top of the arch (picture above)
|
|
