The Mausoleum - A Promise in White Marble

Photo: Swapnil.Karambelkar, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)

A stop on Taj Mahal and Agra: A Self-Guided Visit, a free self-guided tour.

Here it is, up close. Mumtaz Mahal died in June 1631 while giving birth to her fourteenth child, and Shah Jahan began this tomb the next year. The main building was finished by 1648, and the gardens and outer buildings about five years later. More than 20,000 workers are said to have taken part, under the court architect Ustad Ahmad Lahori.

The white marble was hauled from Makrana in Rajasthan. Look up at the dome rising from its drum, crowned by a tall gilded finial. Then look at the four minarets at the corners of the platform: they lean very slightly outward, so that if one ever fell it would topple away from the tomb.

Everything here mirrors something else - left and right, front and back. Walk around the platform and you will find each of the four faces almost identical. Watch the marble, too: it shifts from pink at dawn to dazzling white at noon and gold in the late afternoon.

Getting here: Continue to the end of the garden and climb the steps onto the red sandstone terrace; put on shoe covers or remove your shoes before stepping onto the white marble platform.

Did you know?: The builders used a scaffold made of brick rather than wood, and a ramp of packed earth about 15 kilometers long carried materials to the site.

Photo op: From the foot of the steps, tilt your camera up to fit the whole dome and two minarets in one frame - the tomb is far taller than it looks from the gate.

Nearby: Shoe covers are usually handed out with foreign visitor tickets; otherwise leave shoes at the shoe stand at the foot of the platform. Restrooms are back near the gates.

More on Wikipedia: Taj Mahal · Mumtaz Mahal · Ustad Ahmad Lahori · Makrana

The Mausoleum - A Promise in White Marble

Stops on this tour