Agra: Israeli President Reuven Rivlin today visited the Taj Mahal, along with his wife, and spent nearly one-and-a-half hours at the world famous seventeenth century mausoleum.
Munnazar Ali, an official of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), which is in control of the monument, told PTI that Rivlin showed keen interest on its architecture and the inscriptions on it.
On the visitors’ book, Rivlin expressed his “admiration” for the architectural wonder.
Besides his wife Nechama Rivlin, the President was accompanied by other members of the Israeli delegation to India.
The Taj Mahal is an ivory-white marble mausoleum, commissioned in the early seventeenth century by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan to house the tomb of his favourite wife Mumtaz Mahal.
The Israeli President also visited Agra Water Works Treatment Plant at Sikandra.
The facility uses Israeli innovative technology MBBR (moving bed bio reactor) installed by Aqwise which provides advanced water treatment solutions worldwide.
Started in 2014, this plant caters to around two million people in Agra.
Rivlin said the plant was a manifestation of the bonds of friendship, partnership and collaboration between the two countries.
He also planted a ‘kadamb’ sapling to cement the bonds of friendship.
Rivlin arrived in India on November 14 on an eight-day visit to India, the first by any Israeli President in nearly two decades.