Place : Agra, Uttar Pradesh

Significance : Famous as one of the wonders of the world

Best Time to visit : November to February

Timings : 6am to 7pm daily except Monday, no entry fee on Friday.

Taj Mahal, the breathtakingly elegant monument is one of the most beautiful masterpieces of architecture found in the world. Listed as the seventh wonder of the world and a World heritage Monument by the Unesco, this perfectly symmetrical dream in marble is located in the city of Agra, in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, on the banks of the Yamuna River.

Taj Mahal is famous as an enduring monument to love. It was built by the fifth Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan as the final resting place for his second wife, Mumtaz Mahal. History says that Arjuman Banu, the daughter of Jahangir's (Father of Shah Jehan) Prime Minister, supposedly captured the heart of Prince Khurram (Shah Jahan) the minute he saw her. In 1612, at the age of 21, she married him and became Shah Jehan's beloved consort Mumtaz Mahal. Mumtaz used to accompany in his military campaigns. She was his comrade, his advisor and inspired him to acts of charity and benevolence towards the weak and the needy, but even this qualities were diminished by the love that bound her to Shah Jehan. She bore her husband 14 children. It was in 1630, in Burhanpur, while accompanying her husband on a military campaign she died giving birth to her fourteenth child, at the age of 39. On her deathbed, it is said that Mumtaz asked the king to build a monument so beautiful to show the world how much they loved each other. When her body was brought to Agra, she was laid to rest in a temporary crypt in a garden along the banks of the Yamuna River. The foundation of her mausoleum was laid in 1631. It is also said that his wife's death left Shah Jehan so heartbroken that he locked himself in his private chambers for a month, and when he finally emerged his hair had turned white.

Construction of the Taj Mahal began in the same year and was completed after 22 years in 1653 at a cost of 32 Million Rupees. Twenty thousand workmen and master craftsmen- from Persia, France, Iran, Italy and Turkey worked on the building. Although no one knows who planned the Taj, the name of a Persian architect, Ustad Isa, was involved the construction of this marble monument.

The architectural complex of the Taj Mahal (590x300m)mainly consists of the Darwaza or main gateway, the Bageecha or symmetrically planned garden(300x300m), the Masjid or mosque, the Naqqar Khana or rest house, and the Rauza or the Taj Mahal mausoleum. The actual Tomb is situated inside the Taj.

The main entrance is from the west, but there are also two other entrances from the east and from the south. The majestic main gateway is a large three-storey red sandstone structure, 50ft wide and 100ft high with an octagonal central chamber with a vaulted roof and with smaller rooms on each side, completed in 1648. The gateway consists of lofty central arch with doubles storeyed wings on either side. Above the central portal on the north and south sides, there is a series of 11 attached chattiris (umbrellas) with marble cupolas, flanked by pinnacles.The walls are inscribed with verses from the Quran in Arabic and is done in black calligraphy. A fine feature of the gateway is that the lettering appears to be the same size from top to bottom. This was done by heightening the letters as the distance from the eye increased. The small domed pavilions on top are Hindu in style and signify regality. The gate was originally lined with silver, now replaced with copper and decorated with 1,000 nails whose heads were contemporary silver coins.