Description of the attraction
Another beautiful building created during the Mughal times is the tomb of Itemad-ud-Daula, located in the ancient Indian city of Agra, Uttar Pradesh, on the banks of the Jamna (Yamuna) River. It is known as the "jewelry box" and is considered a kind of "rehearsal" before the construction of the famous Taj Mahal, therefore it is sometimes called "Little Taj" or "Baby Taj".
Like any large building of this type, the tomb is a complex consisting of the tomb itself, several "accompanying" buildings and, of course, a beautiful garden. The construction of the tomb was carried out from 1622 to 1628, by order of Nur Jahan, the wife of the famous emperor Jahangir. The tomb was intended for her father Mirza Ghiyas Beg, who was once the ruler of Persia, but was in exile. During his reign, he received the nickname Itemad-ud-Daulah, which means "pillar of the state", which gave the name to his tomb. He was also the great-grandfather of Mumtaz Mahal, for whom Shah Jahan built the dazzling Taj Mahal. The tomb is located in a garden, which can be accessed through a magnificent gate made of red sandstone, and which, in terms of skill of decoration, is practically equal to the main building.
The tomb is an example of a transitional period in architecture: from the first "phase", when the main building material was red sandstone, and white marble was used for decoration, to the second "phase", when the masters mainly used white marble, and Florentine mosaics predominated in the decoration. - a special technique "pietra dura", the beauty of which is fully revealed in the Taj Mahal. The building has a quadrangular shape, and stands on a small "pedestal", a little more than a meter high, with an area of about 50 square meters. m. At each corner of the building there are hexagonal minarets over 13 meters high. The walls of white marble are decorated with inlays of semi-precious stones: onyx, lapis lazuli, jasper, carnelian, topaz, which are used to decorate real paintings - trees, vases with flowers and fruits.
Cenotaphs of father and mother Nur Jahan are located nearby, in one of the rooms of the tomb.
