Trip #2: Taj Mahal

So this time I decided to leave the country. I wanted to go somewhere known. So I thought, why not go and see the Taj Mahal in Agra, India.

Taj Mahal is a mausoleum that was built under Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his favorite wife, Muntaz Mahal. Here is the story behind the building of this beautiful mausoleum.Taj Mahal

In 1631, in the fourth year of his reign, Shah Jahan set out for Burhanpur with his armies to subdue a rebellion. Even though Mumtaz Mahal was in the ninth month of a pregnancy, she accompanied him as she had done many times before. On a warm evening of April in 1631, the queen gave birth to their fourteenth child, but soon afterwards suffered complications and took a turn for the worse. According to legend, with her dying breath, she secured a promise from her husband on the strength of their love: to build for her a mausoleum more beautiful than any the world had ever seen before.

Architectural antecedents to the Taj Mahal.

The King cried out with grief, like an ocean raging with storm... He put aside his royal robes and for the whole week afterward, His Majesty did not appear in public, nor transact any affairs of state... From constant weeping he was forced to use spectacles, and his hair turned gray...
Shah Jahan grieved for two years. By official opinion, he never again showed enthusiasm for administering the realm. His only solace would be found in the world of art and architecture, and an obsession with perfection that would last his lifetime. Six months after the death of his wife, he laid the foundation for her memorial across the Jamuna River near his palace in Agra... the jewel of India, the far-famed Taj Mahal.

Here is a video of the Taj Mahal

And here you can take a virtual tour