Taj Mahal

Agra, India
The Taj Mahal, Indias most recognizable icon, was built on the banks of the River Jamuna at Agra by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan (reigned a.d.1628 1666), in memory of his beloved wife Arjumand Banu Begam, known as Mumtaz Mahal (Elect of the Palace), who died in childbirth in 1631. There is a tradition that, on her deathbed, she entreated her husband to build a tomb that would preserve her name forever. The funerary mosque, faced with white marble, was completed in 1653 after twenty-two years in the building. When it was inscribed on UNESCOs World Heritage List in 1983, the Taj Mahal was acclaimed as the most perfect jewel of Moslem art in India and