Which Mughal emperor commissioned the Taj Mahal?

The Mughal emperor who commissioned the Taj Mahal was Shah Jahan.

Shah Jahan ordered the monument after the death of his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died in 1631 while giving birth to their fourteenth child. The mausoleum was intended as her tomb and became the centerpiece of a much larger funerary complex on the southern bank of the Yamuna River in Agra.

Construction began in 1632, using white marble from Makrana in Rajasthan along with red sandstone and elaborate inlay work. The principal mausoleum was substantially completed by 1648, while the wider complex took several more years. Persian, Central Asian, and Indian architectural traditions shaped its domes, minarets, gardens, and geometric symmetry.

A common mix-up is to credit Akbar, another major Mughal builder, because he commissioned important monuments such as Humayun’s Tomb and Fatehpur Sikri. Shah Jahan’s reign is especially associated with the Taj Mahal, the Red Fort in Delhi, and the high point of Mughal architectural design.