The Mosque and

The Rest House

 
On either side of the Taj Mahal are sandstone buildings. The one on the west is the Mosque. The Mosques was used for prayer and worship and faced towards Mecca. Mecca is a city in western Saudi Arabia and was the birthplace of Mohammed. It is the holiest city of all Islam. Outside of the Mosque it is covered in pietra dura work, especially across its spandrels, and calligraphy. There is a platform in front of the Mosque that is also made of sandstone. Instead of using water to reflect this building they used a small polished piece of marble. The floor of the Mosque is also shiny and sparkling but is a shade of velvet red. This floor has 539 prayer carpets made by using black marble to mark them. On the roof of the Mosque there are 4 octagonal towers, somewhat like on the gateway, and 3 domes. To finish of the Mosque there are 2 towers, one on the south side and one on the north side. One last thing worth mentioning is the small stone enclosure on the western wall where the well is. This is the place where MumtazŐs remains were put when they first came to Agra as a temporary grave.

Pietra Dura

 
Instead of using water to reflect this building they used a small marble piece that is very polished. The floor of the Mosque is also shiny and sparkling but is a shade of velvet red. This floor has 539 prayer carpets made by using black marble to mark them. On the roof of the Mosque there are 4 octagonal towers, somewhat like on the gateway, and 3 domes.
To finish of the Mosque there are 2 towers, one on the south side and one on the north side. One last thing worth mentioning is the small stone enclosure on the western wall where the well is. This is the place where MumtazŐs remains were put when they first came to Agra as a temporary grave.
The structure on the east is the rest house. It is a duplicate of the Mosque. This is referred to as the jawab, or "answer". This building doesnŐt face the Mecca and so was never used for prayer. Its purpose has always been somewhat of a mystery. The only thing that it may has served, as was an architectural purpose, to keep the symmetry of the Taj Mahal.
The jawab is not an exact replica of the Mosque. It doesnŐt have all the accessories that mosques do and instead of Koranic inscriptions there are wonderful flower designs. There is other decoration too, done in white marble on the red sandstone background. Another interesting feature of the rest house is the full sized replica of the pinnacle on top of the Taj. It is on the floor between the jawab and the mausoleum and helps to give a better feeling of the true sizes and proportions of the Taj Mahal.

 

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