The making of your own Taj Mahal

Do you you want to realize the dream of lodging in Taj Mahal?  Now it’s true since Kashmir Handicrafts, an Agra based manufacturer of Marble Inlay (Pietra Dura) preserves majestic art of Taj Mahal. The traditional Marble Inlay (Pietra Dura) craftsmanship of Taj Mahal can be used to design and decorate modern homes and offices like The Taj Mahal of Agra had been constructed in White Marble with semi-precious stones inlaid on its surface.   

The art of Marble Inlay Pietra Dura consists of cutting out a design on stone slabs, making of grooves on the surface, shaping of semi-precious stones using emery wheels to fit into the grooves and finally "inlaying" of the stones on the marble surface. Semi-precious stones like Agate, Amethyst, Blue & Green Aventurine, Cornelian, Jasper, Lapis-Lazuli, Malachite, Moss-Agate, Sodalite, Tiger's Eye, Serpentine, Chalcedony, White Jasper, Hematite, and Onex-Marble are formed, polished and laid into marble with adhesive.  The masterpiece architecture is so fine that sometimes even a single magnolia flower may have more than 50 different pieces of stone inlaid on it.

The art of making Taj Mahal, though originated in Italy (Pietra Dura is Italian for "hard stone"), was brought to India during the construction of Taj Mahal in seventeenth century by amalgamation of Persian and Hindu architecture and craftsmanship techniques. More than 20,000 artisans drawn from all over the world took nearly 20 years in crafting the Taj Mahal in seventeenth century. Since then this exclusive art of Pietra Dura has been cultural heritage of the city of Agra. Most of the artisans who work for Kashmir Handicrafts are the next generation of the same artisans who settled down in Agra while creating the Taj Mahal and thus use the same ancient styles and techniques of craftsmanship and design.