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History Optional PYQ Master Pack · Model answer

‘The art of building was carried to highest degree of perfection under Shahjahan’. Illustrate by giving architectural details of two of his most celebrated buildings.

  • UPSC 2018
  • Culture during Mughal Empire

The claim that Shah Jahan's reign carried Mughal building to its highest perfection is best tested not by general description but by close architectural detail — this answer takes the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort at Delhi as the two test cases.

You are reading the opening of the model answer. The full answer is part of the History Optional PYQ Master Pack.

What the full answer covers

  • The Taj Mahal, Agra (1632–43)
  • Site Planning and Spatial Layout
  • The Building and Its Named Features
  • The Red Fort, Shahjahanabad, Delhi (from 1639)
  • Scale and Overall Plan
  • Named Halls and Structures
  • …and 1 more sections, with a conclusion

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