The Taj Mahal is the brilliant symbol of a love that aimed to be stronger than death and also the impressive reflection of the omnipotence of the Great Mogul, Shâh Jahân, who ordered it to be built in 1632 as the tomb for Mumtâz Mahal, the emperor’s second wife and mother of fourteen of this children. Beyond the romanticism of this tale, Shâh Jahân converted his wife’s death into a symbol of beauty, bequeathing to India and the world the most famous mausoleum.
Architects, artists and lapidaries combined Timuri, Indian and European traditions to build this unique monument whose construction lasted eleven years (1632-1643). “They have strewn the marble with stone flowers whose colour and perfume excel those of real flowers.” These encrustations, comparable to the pietre dure of Florence (48 varieties of semi-precious stones) are accompanied by the exquisite calligraphic craftsmanship of Koran quotations upon black marble which contribute to making the Taj Mahal a truly extraordinary mausoleum.