Past: Taj Mahal (c. 1631 – 1648)
The Taj Mahal, with its gleaming white marble, inlaid stonework, and immaculate garden and reflecting pool is a Mughal era love letter from Emperor Shah Jahan to his late wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who passed away during the birth of the couple’s fourteenth child. The couple reportedly had a deeply devoted, loving marriage, traveling with the Shah during military campaigns, discussing matters of state, and earning his trust and honor. Upon her death, Shah Jahan commissioned the Taj Mahal as a monument to his beloved wife. The tomb lies at the edge of the quadripartite garden (a garden divided into four distinct parts), instead of in the middle, an unusual placement for tombs at the time. It is dominated by a marble onion dome, giving the building height and dominance over the landscape, and flanked with four minarets as part of its Muslim tradition.
