Banglar TajMahal !! Will You love it or hate??

A giant replica of Taj Mahal near the Bangladeshi capital, which cost a whopping USD 58 million, is fast becoming a major tourist draw since its inauguration with thousands of visitors queueing up daily to have a feel of India's famed Monument of Love.




"I built it to pay honour to Emperor Shahjahan and enable the ordinary people including students to have an idea about the heritage as most of them don't have scopes to visit Agra spending huge money," the wealthy builder of te structure in the suburban Sonargaon district, Ahsanullah Moni told to news agencies.


Moni, who bore the entire cost of building the life-size structure, said it took hundreds of workers and designers, many of whom were Indians, some seven years to build the 'Taj Mahal', which was opened for all in exchange of entry fees though "it is not built with a commercial purpose."



The replica, located 30 kms northeast of Dhaka, has been built on over four acres of land while the complex is much bigger in size to accommodate a five-star motel, a huge film studio and amusement park.

"Everyone dreams to see the Taj Mahal but few people of our country can make the trip as it is too expensive to visit there," said Moni, also a film director and hotelier.

Moni said the idea of building the structure first crossed his mind when he visited Agra in 1980, following which he made six more trips there to realise his dream to replicate it.


But the initiative simultaneously drew some criticism with several legal experts and architects saying copying of such landmarks keeping the original sizes was contrary to archaeological laws.

"It's also not morally acceptable to build such life-size structures without permission of the concerned authorities," President of Bangladesh Architects Institute Professor Mobaswar Hossain said.


But Moni rejected the allegations saying despite being huge the 'Banglar Taj Mahal' was not exactly the same size of the original while he used different materials, including stones for the replica considering their weather suitability.



He said he imported marble and granite from Italy, diamonds from Belgium and used 160 kilogrammes of bronze for the structure built with the help of modern technology.

"Otherwise it would have taken 20 years and 22,000 workers to complete it as the original structure had required," Moni said. Mughal Emperor Shahjahan built the Taj Mahal in Agra in memory of his beloved wife Mumtaj Mahal, who died during childbirth in 17th century.