TIMELINE
Go Barefoot
DANIEL MCCROHAN
Taj Mahal
354
UT TAR PR ADESH
1631 Emperor Shah Jahan's beloved third wife, Mumtaz Mahal, dies in Buhanpur while giving birth to their 14th child. Her body is initially interred in Buhanpur itself, where Shah Jahan is fighting a military campaign, but is later moved, in a golden casket, to a small building on the banks of the Yamuna River in Agra.
Help the environment by entering the mausoleum barefoot instead of using the free disposable shoe covers.
Pishtaqs
These huge arched recesses are set into each side of the Taj. They provide depth to the building while their central, latticed marble screens allow patterned light to illuminate the inside of the mausoleum.
1632 Construction of a permanent mausoleum for Mumtaz Mahal begins.
1633 Mumtaz Mahal is interred in her final resting place, an underground tomb beneath a marble plinth, on top of which the Taj Mahal will be built. 1640 The white-marble mausoleum is completed. 1653 The rest of the Taj Mahal complex is completed. 1658 Emperor Shah Jahan is overthrown by his son Aurangzeb and imprisoned in Agra Fort.
Minaret
1666 Shah Jahan dies. His body is transported along the Yamuna River and buried underneath the Taj, alongside the tomb of his wife. 1908 Repeatedly damaged and looted after the fall of the Mughal empire, the Taj receives some long-overdue attention as part of a major restoration project ordered by British viceroy Lord Curzon.
Entrance Plinth
Marble Relief Work
Flowering plants, thought to be representations of paradise, are a common theme among the beautifully decorative panels carved onto the white marble.
1983 The Taj is awarded Unesco World Heritage Site status. 2002 Having been discoloured by pollution in more recent years, the Taj is spruced up with an ancient recipe known as multani mitti – a blend of soil, cereal, milk and lime once used by Indian women to beautify their skin.
DANIEL MCCROHAN
Today More than three million tourists visit the Taj Mahal each year. That's more than twice the current population of Agra.
Be Enlightened Bring a small torch into the mausoleum to fully appreciate the translucency of the white marble and semiprecious stones.