Monday, June 29, 2009

Bangladesh to build replica Taj Mahal

Taj Mahal (Bangladesh) is a life size replica of the original Taj Mahal located 18 miles northeast of the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka. Unlike the original the building work took only 5 years and cost its wealthy owner USD 58 million. Ahsanullah Moni, a wealthy Bangladeshi film-maker, has told how 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.

Bangladesh makes little money out of international tourism, with just 0.1 percent of visitors to the Asia-Pacific region stopping off there, according to the World Tourism Organisation.

Moni first visited the original Taj in 1980 and made the trip six more times as he followed his dream to replicate it.

He hired specialist architects, sending them to India to measure the dimensions of the real Taj Mahal, and brought six Indian technicians to his building site across the border.

Work finally began in 2003 and will be completed this month, when the new Taj throws open its doors to the public.

Moni imported marble and granite from Italy, diamonds from Belgium and used 160 kilogrammes (353 pounds) of bronze for the dome.

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