The Taj Mahal is the mausoleum in Agra, India, built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan and recognized as a World Heritage Site.
Shah Jahan commissioned the monument in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal, who died in 1631. Construction of the main mausoleum began in 1632 and was completed in 1648, while parts of the surrounding complex were finished by 1653. The white-marble tomb stands beside the Yamuna River within a formal Mughal garden.
The complex combines a domed central tomb, four minarets, a monumental gateway, a mosque, a guest house, and gardens arranged around a charbagh plan. Its decoration includes Quranic calligraphy, floral reliefs, and pietra dura inlay using colored stones. The celebrated symmetry is carefully balanced, although the cenotaphs inside are symbolic; the actual graves lie in the crypt below.
UNESCO inscribed the Taj Mahal in 1983, praising it as a masterpiece of Indo-Islamic architecture. Fatehpur Sikri and Humayun’s Tomb are also Mughal World Heritage Sites, while Qutub Minar belongs to a different architectural and historical tradition.