5/5 Md Nahid I. 3 years ago on Google
Taj
Mahal
Bangladesh (Bengali: তাজ
মহল
বাংলাদেশ)
is
a
full-scale
copy
of
the
original Taj
Mahal (a Mughal mausoleum located
in Agra,
India)
located
16
kilometres
(10 mi)
east
of
the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka in Sonargaon.
Unlike
the
original,
work
on
the
building
took
only
five
years.
Ahsan
Ullah
Moni,
a
wealthy
Bangladeshi
film-maker,
announced
his
'Copycat
version
of
Taj
Mahal'
project
in
December
2008.
The
project
cost
about
US$56
Million,
and
was
built
20
miles
northeast
of
Capital
Dhaka.
Moni
has
explained
that
he
built
a
replica
of
the
Taj
Mahal
so
that
the
poor
of
his
nation
can
realise
their
dream
of
seeing
neighbouring
India's
famed
monument.[1] This
caused
complaints
from
Indian
officials,
"You
can't
just
go
and
copy
historical
monuments"
an
official
of
Indian
High
Commission
in
Dhaka
told
press.[2]
Construction
began
in
2003,
but
Mr
Moni
says
that
he
came
up
with
the
idea
in
1980
when
he
first
visited
the
real
Taj
in
Agra,
India.
He
said
that
his
homage
had
been
built
because
most
people
living
in
Bangladesh
-
where
nearly
half
of
the
population
exist
below
the
poverty
line
-
cannot
afford
to
travel
to
India
to
see
the
real
thing.
"Everyone
dreams
about
seeing
the
Taj
Mahal
but
very
few
Bangladeshis
can
make
the
trip
because
it's
too
expensive
for
them,"
he
said.
Mr
Moni
first
visited
the
original
in
1980
and
has
made
six
return
trips.
So
enamoured
was
he
of
the
site
that
he
hired
a
group
of
architects
and
sent
them
to
India
to
measure
it.
He
said:
“I
used
the
same
marble
and
stone
as
in
the
original
Taj.
We
used
machinery,
which
is
why
it
took
less
time.
Otherwise
it
would
have
taken
20
years
and
22,000
workers
to
complete
it.”
Mr
Mittal,
of
the
Indian
High
Commission,
did
concede
that
the
replica
was
unlikely
to
detract
from
the
magnificence
of
the
original.
He
also
admitted
that
visitors
were
unlikely
to
mix
up
one
with
the
other.
“A
copy
is
a
form
of
flattery,
I
suppose,”
he
said.[3]
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