The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1899-08-02

duets 10 a spacious vaulted chamber.
There ~ no light but what enters at
the door. and this falls directly upon
the tomb OF the queen In tine center.
| Shah Jehan, whose ashes are covered
| py similar cenotaph raised some
what above hers. sleeps by her side.
Frequently the Mohammedans nh the
| vault with the OdOrs or rose and jas
| mine and sandal wood the precious
affairs OF which are sprinkled on the
tomb. These are the true tombs the
| monuments for display being placed in
the grand hall above This hall is a
lofty rotunda, lighted both from above
and below by screens OF marble and
Jasper and ornamented with a wains-
cotIng OF sculptured tablets represent
ing flowers. The tombs are sarcaphaef
or the purest marble exquisstely inlaidP
with Diood-stone, agate. earnelian, la
pls-lazuli, and other precious stones,
and surrounded with an octagonal
screen SIX feet high, I'm the open trac-
cry or which lilies. irises and other
MOWERS are lnterwrought with the most
ornamental designs. 1t is of marble
covered with precious stones"
The building is said 10 have been de-
signed Dy man who acquired his pro-
fesson I'm Italy. and who originally
came from the Indian state of Rajpu-
tana; and legend says that after the
building was finished. he was seized,
and his eyes put out, TO prevent his
executing one OF grander proportions
Tor the Maharaja of Jaypore. king OF
his native home.
The dome of the Tai contains an
echo more sweet. more pure. and more
prolonged than that OF the baptistry OF
ilsa. the finest In Europe. A single
musical note uttered by the voice floats
and scars overhead in a long and soft
undulation, fading away SO slowly that
one seems To see after IL ia spent-as
you see or seem to see. a lark than you
have been watching. as IL is swallowed
up IN the blue vault of heaven. The
responses that would come from above
in the pauses of the SONG must resem-
Die the harmonies of the angels in par
adlse
The best time of all to see the build
ing Is by moonlight. and there is no /
tongue that can tell the effect produced |
ON the mind by the soft lunar light |
streaming down on this gem OF archi- !
tectural perfection. Ii then looks like
a floating palace i'm the air. and as you
approach IL seems TO recede.
The TAI was built by Shah Jehan as
he tomb Of his favorite wife. Began
Mumtaz Mahal, hence the name Tai.
It was commenced in 1880, and ii is said
% have taken seventeen years to COM |
)lete il, and that its cost was $15,000.000 |
Dne writer has said that there were
O,9Oc Workmen engaged in its erection |
or twenty-five years
The black marble came from place
allied Charkoh, and cost $50 square
'ard; the crystal from China at "A
'ost OF about $3.50 per square yard: Jas
,er from the Punjab: carnelian from
3agdad turquoises from the far of
'lains OF Thibet lapis-Iazuli from the
sland of Ceylon. at a cost of about $3.50
! square yard: coral from Arabia and
he Red Sea; and amethysts from PEI
ia. There are in the inlaying OF the |
lowers many other stones used. which |
lave no longer a name i'm our Ian
,uage.
IL seems wonderful how such a build
ng could have been erected by a peo-
De who possessed none OF the appli- |
lnces OF modern scie1ce-how the huge |
blocks of marble were ever raised and |
placed In the dome without steam
'ranes or anything OF the kind. But |
here IL stands an emblem OF the skill
" the forefathers OF the Mohamme-
ians of today. and sunequaled in any |
'ther country on earth.