BY DEBASHREE CHAKRABORTY
KOLKATA, 27 JULY 2022
“ Only let this one tear- drop, this Taj mahal, glisten spotlessly bright on the cheek of time, forever and ever,” Rabindranath Tagore.
Set up about 370 years ago, Taj Mahal, which has scripted the world’s ever greatest real life love story of an Emperor for his beloved Queen, is still standing tallest amongst all the historical monuments in the country.
Despite the pandemic outbreak in the past two years, the ‘Wonder of The World’ has fetched Rs.132 crores from ticket sales between 2019 to 2022 and has bagged the status of highest revenue generating monument in Incredible India.
In fact, The Taj Mahal contributed 24 percent of total revenues earned by Archeological Society of India (ASI) in the past three years. In 2019-2020, the ASI has earned Rs.97.5 crores from Taj Mahal.
The Archeological Society of India (ASI) protects, conserves and manages about 3693 monuments in the country, out of which only 143 monument sites have entry tickets.
Red Fort, Qutub Minar, Agra Fort, Konark Sun Temple, Khajuraho, Ellora Caves, Golkonda Fort in Hyderabad, Humayun’s Tomb in Delhi ,Shaniwar Wada in Pune, group of monuments at Mamallapuram are the other heritage monuments managed and preserved by ASI which have contributed high revenues through ticket selling.
The total footfall of tourists from all around the globe to Agra’s pride- Taj Mahal is estimated to be about over 10 million every year. Earnings of Taj Mahal was about five times more than Red Fort in Delhi.
Though there has been an almost 73 percent drop in revenue earning due restrictions imposed after the global covid -10 pandemic outbreak compared to pre covid periods.
The tourist besides visiting the Taj mahal also visits the two nearby attractions- Fatehpur Sikri and Agra Fort.
There are separate rate cards of entry tickets for domestic, SAARC and BIMSTEC countries and foreign tourists. Entry is free for children below the age group of 15 years.
Night viewing is also available on five days every month on full moonlight. Taj Mahal was built in the 17th century . Its chief architect was Ustad Ahmad Lahauri.
It is listed as UNESCO World Heritage Site together with Agra Fort and is also listed as one of the 7 wonders of the world.
The Taj mahal was built by 22,000 labourers, painters, stone cutters, embroidery artists. It took about 17 years to build the monument and took over 1000 elephants to transport the materials to Agra. The construction began in 1631 and was finished in 1648. The mixture of building design was influenced from the Middle Eastern, Indian, Turkish and Ottoman architecture.
The Taj Mahal was shut for 2 days during World War- II. It was also shut during the 1971 Indo – Pak War and during the 1978 flood in Agra.
UNESCO describes Taj Mahal as the jewel of muslim art in India and acclaimed it as a masterpiece of world heritage.
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