Taj Mahal - 3D panorama
Taj Mahal, India • 360° Aerial Panorama
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In The New Seven Wonders Of The World list Taj Mahal, a mosque-mausoleum located in Indian city of Agra, takes a very important place.
In spite of its Muslim origin this white
marble necropolis became an actual symbol of India. Serious security
measures are taken to protect it. There is a special 500-meter security
zone established around the complex. Cars are to be parked 2 kilometers
away, and the rest of the way tourists have to travel by rickshas,
carriages, or electromobiles, because it's believed that car exhaust
fumes cause yellowing of the marble facing. There is even a barbed wire
fence on the opposite shore of Jamuna River, which runs beside Taj
Mahal. Security personnel totals hundreds of men.
In January 2012 Dima Moiseenko, our
photographer, went to Agra to meet the Superintending Archaeologist in
charge of Taj Mahal and asked him how to get a permit to photograph Taj
Mahal from air. Security is so tight in Taj Mahal that one cannot even
enter with a tripod. But that wasn't the only issue: Dima was asked to
hand over his lighter and cigarettes.
The Archaeologist listened to the
request of his guest from remote Russia and replied, "I'll allow you to
shoot with a tripod, but you can forget about aerial photographs". Last
time someone took pictures of Taj Mahal from air was 10 or 15 years ago.
And as long as I've been here, no one else has been able to do that. A
few years ago some foreigners tried to launch a radio-controlled
helicopter from a boat on the river, but the police immediately arrested
them. I strongly advice you against this trick."
We were curious who managed to take an
aerial photograph of Taj Mahal. After searching the Internet we found
out that it was Yan Artus Bertran, a famous Frenchman, who took pictures
of Taj Mahal from a helicopter in 1997.
15 years have passed and no one else was
able to get a permission to shoot the monument from air. Mr. Bertran
had a full support of UNESCO and French government, so one can imagine
the resources he had available for this project. Unfortunately, the only
resource AirPano had was a group panoramic photography enthusiasts from
Moscow.
And so we decided to visit the Embassy
of India in Moscow. Dima went to the Embassy and made a presentation
about AirPano project. He told them about our non-for-profit work
focused on showing people the most interesting places of our planet from
a bird's eye view.
They expressed an interest in our work
and asked us to prepare all the necessary documents about the planned
photo shoot. The paperwork took almost 2 months, we went back and forth,
correcting documents and providing comments when necessary. Finally,
when we were shooting in Cambodia, good news came from the Embassy: we
were given the permission to shoot in March.
I will let Stas tell you the rest of the story.
Although we had a trip to Jordan planed
in March, we canceled it and went to India. Dima Moiseyenko and I
arrived to Agra, India, the home of Taj Mahal, in March 2012.
First of all we went to visit the
Superintendant Archaeologist, with whom Dima met in January. Only this
time we had the papers. At first, very unwillingly, the Superintendant
Archaeologist allowed us to fly over Agra, except for Taj Mahal. But
then, referring to a phone call from Dehli, he denied us entirely. He
said that we had to go to the capital and gain a permit from the
Ministry of Civil Aviation (yes, for a 100-meter height launch of a
small manually controlled helicopter). As if to make us feel better, he
allowed us to shoot inside Taj Mahal with a tripod.
To say that we were frustrated after
that conversation is to say nothing. Our entire trip was falling apart
right in front of our eyes, because Taj Mahal was our main goal.
We spent the following day knocking on
every door we knew, from police to other local authorities, trying to
get the permit. But all our efforts were in vain. After listening to our
story, every single bureaucrat sent us back to the Superintendant
Archaeologist.
As a last resort, Dima called the
Embassy of India in Moscow and told them that despite of all the papers
from Delhi, we were being denied to photograph Taj Mahal. They said they
would look into it, but it could take a lot of time. And we had only 3
days left.
The same night we held "a council of
war" in our hotel room. We declared that, using the papers from the
Embassy as a backup, we would launch the helicopter from under the wall
by the riverside.
The take-off should be done in the
open, in the sight of the security guards, so that we wouldn't be shot
as terrorists. It was clear that we had only one chance to shoot, and
that they wouldn't allow us to do it again.
In the morning we packed our equipment
and went to our photo shoot, preparing ourselves to spend some time in a
local jail. However, we received a phone call on our way to Taj Mahal.
It was an employee of the Embassy in Moscow. He said that we had to go
to the Superintendant Archaeologist's office and get our photo permit.
He managed to resolve all the issues for us. Still in doubt, we entered
the office. The Superintendant Archaeologist didn't grace us with his
presence; a small clerk handed us the paper.
And that was it! The permit to fly over
Agra Fatehpur Sikri Fort and, more importantly, a permission to
photograph Taj Mahal from air for 2 days straight!
To be honest, I didn't believe my own eyes at first, but the sight of Dima dancing in the street dust finally convinced me.
We photographed Taj Mahal twice in the
morning and one time in the evening. That was one of the most
challenging and thorough work we'd done so far. We had to carry our
helicopter on the premises 3 times. And each time it was a nightmare.
Every local security guard had to stop us and ask - with huge surprise
in his eyes - how exactly did we manage to sneak in our gear. Routinely
we would show him our papers, which he would study for 10 or 15 minutes,
only to say that we couldn't shoot here.
But yes, we did it! We were the first
ones in 15 years to fly over Taj Mahal and photograph it. We were the
first to make a virtual aerial tour around Taj Mahal, one of the New
Seven Wonders of the World. And now you can admire the beauty of the
symbol of India in a way only birds could do before.
After this we shot in many other places
in India, such as Fatehpur Sikri, Agra Fort, Varanasi, Jaipur, and
Delhi. Fortunately, we didn't have any difficulties there. On our last
day in India we also received a permission to photograph at the
territory of unique Akshardhama (New Delhi).We will publish these
materials on AirPano.com as they go through post processing.
Stay tuned!
Taj Mahal was built by order of Shah
Jahan, a Great Mughal emperor and the descendant of Tamerlan, in memory
of his wife Mumtaz Mahal. In our cynical times it's hard to believe in
feelings strong enough to withstand 17 years of marriage and 13
children. But it's a fact - all legends and stories of that time tell us
one thing: when they first met, Shah Jahan was enchanted by his chosen
one, so from that moment on he didn't pay attention to his other wives.
When Mumtaz Mahal died during childbirth of their fourteenth baby in
1631, Shah aborted his war campaign, returned home and dedicated the
rest of his life to building the mausoleum.
Twenty thousand workers had been
building the monument for more than twenty years. Beside local experts,
foreign architects - Venetian and Frenchman - were invited to
participate in the development. Combined efforts gave birth to five-dome
building, which was 74 meters high on the platform with 4 minarets in
the corners. The walls are faced with polished semitransparent marble,
brought to the site from a 300 kilometers distance. It looks white in
the bright daylight, pink during sunset, and silver in the moonlight.
Furthermore, walls are decorated with turquoise, agate, malachite,
carnelian and other gemstones delivered from many countries including
Russia.
The grand building of Taj Mahal is surrounded by park.
Water canals divide the park into square sections. The wide canal with
fountains runs from the main gate. When the fountains are silent one can
see a magic reflection of Taj Mahal in the water...
While the construction was in progress,
Shah Jahan had an idea to create the same monument for himself on the
opposite shore of Jamuna River that runs right behind the mausoleum. It
would be made of black marble and connected with his wife's mausoleum by
an openwork bridge. Unfortunately, this beautiful dream did not come
true. In order to maintain a clear view of the most spectacular
mausoleum in the world, it was prohibited to erect more than 4-storey
buildings in 3 kilometers radius.
However, many years of grief
and obsession with building the mausoleum prevented Shah Jahan from
attending to his country's needs. As a result, he was overthrown by his
own son (son of the woman to whom he dedicated the mausoleum) and spent
the rest of his days in jail. The legend says that, as some cruel joke,
his jail windows were facing Taj Mahal, the monument to his loved one
whose untimely death led to his demise.
Taj Mahal is not just
one of the most famous India landmarks. It is a rare monument, which
needs to be seen and also to be felt. This is a story of love
artistically preserved in stone, and it affects everyone who sees it.
You can also watch the short video from the above of Taj Mahal.
Thảm hoa này mang nhiều màu sắc, nhưng chủ yếu là 3 màu trắng, hồng và tím. 
