Nestled amidst the magnificent palaces and forts of northern India lies an arthitectural wonder, the Taj Mahal or the ”The Crown of All Palaces”. Built by the fifth Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, in 1631 in memory of his wife, Mumtaz Mahal, the true beauty of the Taj Mahal cannot be captured in photography or painting. One has to visit the splendid marble structure to appreciate its real beauty and understand the romance behind the masterpiece. India’s famous poet and Nobel laureate, Rabindranath Tagore, once called it, ”a teardrop on the cheek of time.” The English poet, Sir Edwin Arnold, described it as, ”not a piece of architecture, as other buildings are, but the proud passions of an emperor’s love wrought in living stones.” It is a celebration of woman built in marble, which is the only way to truly appreciate it.
