Who was the chief architect of the Taj Mahal?

Ustad Ahmad Lahauri is widely identified as the Taj Mahal’s chief architect.

Lahauri was a Mughal architect and engineer active during Shah Jahan’s reign. Contemporary and later accounts associate him with the Taj Mahal project, and he is commonly described as the architect who led the board responsible for its design and supervision. He was also involved in major Mughal projects in Delhi, including the Red Fort and the planning of Shahjahanabad.

The Taj Mahal was not the product of one modern-style architect working alone. More than 20,000 workers and artisans contributed, while specialists handled calligraphy, inlay, masonry, dome construction and metalwork. Sources also name Mir Abd-ul Karim and Makramat Khan among officials connected with the project, which explains why historical accounts sometimes present a team rather than a single designer.

That complexity creates a common mix-up with Ustad Isa, another name sometimes repeated in popular stories about the monument. Shah Jahan was the patron and commissioner, not the architect. For a standard quiz asking for the chief architect, however, Ustad Ahmad Lahauri is the accepted answer.