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Agra
is famous, to the world as the city of Taj Mahal.
Agra has its roots, ancient to the time of Mahabaratha.
Agra is located on the west bank of River Yamuna, 204
km south of Delhi. The old part of the town, north of the
fort, is where the main market place is. The present township is
on the south. Agra has a wonderful fort and many other monuments
from the Mughal period, not to mention the Taj
Mahal, which are major attractions to the tourists.
The architectural splendors of the mausoleums, the fort and the
palaces is a glowing remainder of the mausoleums, the fort and
the palaces is a bright reminder of the capital in the 16th and
early 17th centuries.
While its importance as a political centre ended with the
transfer of the capital to Delhi in 1634 by Shah
Jahan, its architectural wealth has protected its place
on the international map. A lovely town with relatively slow
pace, Agra is known for its excellent inlay work on marble and
soap stone by craftsman who is successor of those who worked
under the Mughals. The Agra city is also famous for its
carpets, gold thread embroidery and leather shoes. Agra was once
the capital of the Mughal Empire and even nowadays it
seems to linger in the past. Not amazing, for the Mughal
emperors with their fervor for building, endowed the city with
some of the finest structures in the world. It is very easy to
slip away here through the centuries into the splendor and
intrigues of the Mughal court.
Agra is an old city and it is said that its name was derived
from Agrabana, a forest that finds declare in the grand
Mahabharata. In more recent times Agra came into fame when
Sikandar Lodi made it his capital city in 1501. The Lodi
rule was to end very soon and Agra passed into the ownership of
the Mughals.
It was during the time of the third emperor Akbar that
Agra came into its own. He embarked on the construction of the
enormous Agra Fort in 1565. Agra continued to retain its
significance and Shah Jehan, Akbar's
garndson decorated the city with that masterpiece of
Mughal architecture the Taj Mahal and built
some other beautiful buildings within the Agra fort.
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