Construction of the Taj Mahal
- Date
- 1632–1653
- Category
- Culture, arts & philosophy
- Region
- Agra, Mughal India
- Era
- Early Modern
- Significance
After his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal died in childbirth in 1631, the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan commissioned a vast mausoleum at Agra in her memory.
Construction of the white marble tomb began in 1632 under a team of architects led by Ustad Ahmad Lahori; the main structure was finished by 1648 and the surrounding mosque, gateway and char bagh gardens by about 1653. Employing some 20,000 workers and craftsmen and inlaid with semiprecious stones, the Taj Mahal fused Persian, Central Asian and Indian design into a perfectly symmetrical masterpiece widely regarded as the summit of Mughal architecture. Its construction reflected both the immense wealth of the empire under Shah Jahan and the lavish building programme of his reign, which also produced the Red Fort and the new capital at Shahjahanabad in Delhi. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Taj Mahal remains one of the most celebrated buildings in the world and an enduring icon of South Asia.
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Empires active in 1632–1653
- Solomonic dynasty1270 CE – 1974 CE
- Ottoman Empire1299 CE – 1922 CE
- Mughal Empire1526 CE – 1857 CE
- Portuguese Empire1415 CE – 1999 CE
- Spanish Empire1492 CE – 1976 CE
- Ming Dynasty1368 CE – 1644 CE
Related culture, arts & philosophy events
- Locke's Two Treatises and Essay: social contract and empiricism1689 (published; dated 1690)
- The Enlightenment (Age of Reason)c. 1685–1815
- Descartes's Discourse on the Method and modern philosophy1637
- Francis Bacon's Novum Organum and the scientific method1620
- Shah Abbas I and the golden age of Safavid Isfahan1598 (capital moved to Isfahan)
- Voltaire's Lettres philosophiques popularises English liberty1733 (English) / 1734 (French)
Further reading
The wider story
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