Object description

Taj Mahal Bangladesh is a full-scale copy of the original Taj Mahal located 16 kilometres east of the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka in Sonargaon. Unlike the original, work on the building took only five years. Ahsan Ullah Moni, a wealthy Bangladeshi film-maker, announced his 'Copycat version of Taj Mahal' project in December 2008. The project cost about US$56 Million, and was built 20 miles northeast of Capital Dhaka. Moni has explained that 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. This caused complaints from Indian officials, "You can't just go and copy historical monuments" an official of Indian High Commission in Dhaka told press.