Size Matters

Link to newer photos. New ones start on page two of this album.

So we went down to Agra last week to see the sites. I did the same thing twelve years ago and suffered no diminished excitement at a second visit. Tami and I have seen a lot of amazing things on this trip but I knew the Taj Mahal was superlative and was as excited to see her response as I was to see the monuments. In fact, as we sat on the roof of our guest house watching the sun set on the Taj's wasp-waisted white dome and minarets, I realized there was maybe only one human-made structure on the face of the planet that resonates as deeply as the Taj...and we saw that one back in April in Paris. Now were going to see the other.

You can take all the Empire State buildings, Macchu Picchus, Acropoli, St. Peter's Basilici and Big Ben's and even pyramids of Giza you want. I think I even mentioned in an earler post that Barcelona was building another Taj Mahal. Antoni Gaudi and Barcelona are good...but they aren't quite that good. Seeing the Taj Mahal is one of those rare experiences that lives up to all (and I mean all) the hype you may have ever heard. That says a lot because no building in world has been surrounded by more myth and hype than the one in the above photo.

In fact, the Taj evokes such powerful emotional responses that I'd be hard pressed to think of any single work, building or otherwise, that surpasses it in its ability to inspire. The dome and the minarets dominate Taj Ganj, the village that surrounds it. Many of the guest houses and restaurants have rooftop seating taking advantage of their unique treasure.















Most people who have not visited the Taj don't realize that it's the centerpiece of a large, extremely complementarily beautiful complex. I remember stopping in wonder at the main entry gate my first visit. I had no idea I would get to see other structures of such awe inspiring size and graceful beauty. As you move toward and look through the opening in that gate, your sight toward the Taj itself is compressed down to a pin hole scope where you see, a few hundred yards distant, the Taj itself. The thing that struck me first was the people walking on its surrounding terrace. Those people were small...which made me realize that the Taj was big....really big.

And you know what...in art, you get extra points for size. The best art, in my mind, inspires you to want to be a better person. Whether or not you agree with the style or intent, if it's done superlatively, you have to give that to the creator(s). You can walk into the Louvre and see the Mona Lisa and it can inspire. But you check out Mona Lisa for fifteen minutes or a half hour and you move on. You walk into the Taj complex and (first, you cry...) you can spend days. From a distance the symetry, proportion, color and repetition of forms entrances you. Up close, you can see the flawless stone work, specifically carving and inlay, that covers the entire exteri (Incidentally, there is a fairly popular but...barely drinkable beer here called "Taj Mahal". I remember thinking that anything taking the "Taj" name should hold itself to the same, unsurpassed standards of quality. Everyone in India would be an alcoholic, though, so I'll have to let "Taj" beer slide on this one.)

The Taj Mahal is 351 years old as of last week. In 1655, the Pilgrims were still trying to get a foothold on the eastern seabord of the US. The Taj, built solely of stone, still looks as fresh and incomparable as ever. The Mughals and their craftspeople built a lot of nice things in India but they never got it so "right" as they did with the Taj. Apart from some fun loving Parisian riding the cresting wave of industrial modernization, I don't think anyone else has either.