India's world-famous building: the love story of the Taj Mahal

Woman in a sari against the backdrop of the Taj Mahal _{^{Photo: stock.adobe.com/Sasint}}

From our editorial team

White marble, a huge dome, thousands of visitors every day. The Taj Mahal is one of the most famous buildings in the world. It was built for a woman.

Shortly after sunrise, there is still a haze over the Yamuna River. The Taj Mahal then appears almost light, even though it is made of marble weighing tonnes. Standing in front of it, you don't see a museum, but a building that has lived for almost four hundred years: as an image, as a backdrop, as a promise.

Italy: In which region people are getting the oldest

A wonder of the world with clarity

The Taj Mahal has been one of the new seven wonders of the world since 2007. Not because of a single detail, but because of its unity. Mausoleum, garden, water basin, mosque - everything belongs together. The building is precisely planned, symmetrically laid out and almost completely preserved to this day. The fact that it is understood worldwide is due to its clarity.

A woman who didn't stay in the background

The Taj Mahal was built for Mumtaz Mahal, the wife of the Mughal ruler Shah Jahan. She was not a figure from the harem that history only discovered after her death. Contemporary reports show a woman who was present. She travelled with the ruler, even when he was away for weeks at a time. While other women remained at court, she was at his side - even on campaigns. This closeness was unusual at the time.

Death in the midst of life

Mumtaz Mahal dies in 1631 during the birth of her fourteenth child. Not in a palace, but on the road, during a campaign. Shah Jahan was at the height of his power at the time. The loss hits him in the middle of political events. Shortly afterwards, planning began for a tomb that would outlast everything that had been built up to that point.

Top 5 with money: The richest women in Italy

Stone instead of words

It takes more than twenty years to build the Taj Mahal. White marble from Rajasthan, materials from distant regions, thousands of labourers. The result is not a playful monument, but an austere, clear building. A place that captures memories without embellishing them. It was customary at the time for rulers to erect a tomb for a deceased wife. That he did it on this scale was not.

A place that lives on

Today, the Taj Mahal is omnipresent. In India, it appears in school textbooks, in state campaigns and in adverts. In Bollywood, it is the backdrop for great emotions: for farewells, reunions, promises. A quick glance at the dome is often enough - the story no longer needs to be told, it's all about great love...

Why you talk to your mum on the phone every day in Italy