Taj Mahal is now in Bangladesh

Ah you thought it was in India

India irritated by Taj Mahal copy | The Daily Telegraph

INDIA'S embassy in Bangladesh has voiced its displeasure over a life-size copy of the Taj Mahal, saying it would investigate to see if any copyright laws had been breached.

"You can't just go and copy historical monuments," a spokesman at the Indian High Commission in Dhaka said.

"Someone will go out there and have a look. The reports we are reading say it is an exact replica. This is a protected site we are talking about so we need to find out if it really is the exact size.

Bangladeshi film director Ahsanullah Moni unveiled his $US58 million ($A88.35 million) replica, located about 30km north-east of the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, this week.

Mr Moni began building it five years ago but came up with the idea in 1980 when he first visited the real "Monument to Love" in Agra, India.

He imported marble and granite from Italy, diamonds from Belgium and used 160kg of bronze for the dome.

"Everyone dreams about seeing the Taj Mahal but very few Bangladeshis can make the trip because it's too expensive for them," he said.

The Taj Mahal was built by Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died giving birth in 1631.