- Ustad Isa
Ustad Isa ( _fa. استاد عيسى translation "Master Isa (Jesus in Arabic)") is a fictitious architect, often described as the chief architect of the
Taj Mahal . Typically he is described as either a Turkish or Persian architect.The lack of complete and reliable information as to whom the credit for the design belongs, led to innumerable speculations. Scholars suggest the story of Ustad Isa was born of the eagerness of the British in the 19th century to believe that such a beautiful building should be credited to a European architect. Local informants were reported to have sated British curiosity regarding the origins of the Taj by also supplying them with fictitious lists of workmen and materials from all over Asia.Koch, p.89] [ [http://web.archive.org/web/20070403121043/http://www.dreamzicon.com/about-taj-mahal/taj-mahal-building-details.html Building Details of Taj Mahal] ]
Recent research suggests
Ustad Ahmad Lahauri was the most likely candidates as the chief architect of the Taj, an assertion based on a claim made in writings by Lahauri's son Lutfullah Muhandis. [http://whc.unesco.org/archive/advisory_body_evaluation/252.pdf UNESCO advisory body evaluation] ] Asher, p.212] Begley and Desai, p.65]Notes
References
*cite book| last = Asher | first = Catherine Ella Blanshard | title = The New Cambridge History of India, Vol I:4 - Architecture of Mughal India | origdate = 2003 | format = Hardback | edition = First published 1992, reprinted 2001,2003 | publisher = Cambridge University Press | location = Cambridge | language = English| id = ISBN 0-521-26728-5 | pages =368
*cite book| last = Begley | first = Wayne E. | coauthors=Desai, Z.A.| title = Taj Mahal - The Illumined Tomb | origdate = 1989| format = Hardback | edition = | publisher = University of Washington Press | location = | language = English| id = ISBN 978-0295969442 | pages =392
*cite book| last = Koch | first = Ebba | title = The Complete Taj Mahal: And the Riverfront Gardens of Agra | origdate = Aug 2006| format = Hardback| edition = First| publisher = Thames & Hudson Ltd | location = | language = English| id = ISBN 0500342091| pages = 288 pages
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