Which material is used for the mosque and jawab in the Taj Mahal complex?

Red sandstone is used for the mosque and jawab in the Taj Mahal complex.

These two matching buildings stand on opposite sides of the marble mausoleum at the northern end of the formal garden. The mosque is on the western side, while the jawab is on the eastern side. “Jawab” means “answer” and refers to the building’s role as a symmetrical counterpart to the mosque; it was not designed as a functioning mosque.

The red sandstone gives these structures a strong visual contrast with the mausoleum’s ivory-white marble. The sandstone was quarried near Fatehpur Sikri in present-day Uttar Pradesh, while much of the Taj’s white marble came from Makrana in Rajasthan. The buildings also use brick and lime mortar beneath their facing materials.

A common mix-up is to identify white marble as the material for every major building. Marble dominates the central tomb, but red sandstone is characteristic of the mosque, jawab, boundary walls and several other elements of the complex.