Each of the four minarets on the raised marble platform surrounding the central tomb of the Taj Mahal, leans outwards by about five centimetres. Apparently, this architectural quirk was included so that in the event of an earthquake the minarets would fall away from the exquisitely crafted domes, rather than onto them. The mausoleum - built by Shah Jahan for his second wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died giving birth to their fourteenth child - is so perfectly symmetrical, that what looks like a mosque on the eastern side is in fact a jawab (replica) that doesn't face Mecca, but completes this unique attempt at architectural perfection. In fact, the building was so perfect that the Shah amputated the hands of many of his 20,000 workers so that the beautiful craftsmanship of the carving and inlay could never be replicated.