Fourteen tons of gold in memory of the third wife

It is sad, but in death, ladies and gentlemen, is also a roster. At the bottom - a nameless mass grave, and at the top - the mausoleum of the individual, such as the mausoleum of Lenin or Napoleon in Paris.
In this series, especially stands of white marble of the Taj Mahal, the mausoleum-mosque in Agra, India, in which rests a descendant of Tamerlane, Sultan Mughal Empire Shah Jehan and beloved third wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died in childbirth its 14th child.
This mausoleum of Shah built in her honor. The construction was 21 years old, it was attended by more than 20,000 artists, herds of elephants. The walls of the mausoleum are made of polished translucent marble (it drove 300 kilometers), in daylight it - white, at the dawn - pink, on a moonlit night - silver.
Marble inlaid with semi-precious stones - it's turquoise, agate, malachite, carnelian. It is difficult to estimate the costs, since the mid-17th century, the Indian rupee exchange rate has changed a lot, but a rough estimate, if we translate the cost in gold, you get about 14 tons.
Not surprisingly, in 1983, the Taj Mahal was named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, "the pearl of Muslim art in India and one of the recognized masterpieces of heritage, which is admired all over the world».

In India, sounding the alarm - a masterpiece of cracks. Three and a half centuries stood as a new, and now began to deteriorate. It is believed that the case in the basement.

Shah built thoroughly attracted the best architects of the era. Builders dug deep wells, which were filled with lime stones. Below the level of soil water wells walls were lined with rubber, heavy and dense tropical trees. Such structures are passed pressure on the deeper layers of the soil.

All the last 350 years, the system was kept as the waters of the river Yamuna ebony maintained in good condition. However, in recent years, the construction of dams, canals, the development of heavy industry and the growth of cities upstream led to the fall of the water level in the river. During summer heat, it is now generally dry.

Taj Mahal has five domes height of 74 meters, the mausoleum adjacent garden with fountains and a swimming pool, and four minarets at the corners. Curiously, the minarets are slightly tilted away from the tomb to in case of destruction did not hurt her.

This precaution may be the way now. One of the minarets have deviated from the axis of about 3 cm. If it goes on like this, architectural gem in five years you can lose.

Output, which offer - to restore the level of soil water. To do this you need to build another dam, which would have delayed the water for the dry season.

Cost of the project - $ 100 million.

By my rough calculations - is 1850 kilograms of gold.

Sheer nonsense, compared with what has invested Shah Jahan in memory of his eternal third wife, who died in childbirth his 14th child.

14 tons.