After his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal died giving birth in 1631, the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan ordered a mausoleum on the bank of the Yamuna river in Agra. Building started in 1632 and the main tomb was finished around 1643, with the surrounding complex, mosque and gardens completed by about 1653. About 20,000 workers and artisans from India, Persia and Central Asia built it in white Makrana marble, inlaid with semiprecious stones, under a double dome, the whole monument rising 73 metres. The architect Ustad Ahmad Lahauri is the usual attribution. Shah Jahan was deposed by his son Aurangzeb and spent his last years in the Agra Fort, looking at the tomb.
Before and after
- from 1652 to 1784Anglo-Dutch Wars
- from 1 June 1652 to 2 June 1652Battle of Batih
- 1653Founding of Lowell
- 1653Founding of Leominster
- c. 1653The Taj Mahal is completed
- 1654Magdeburg hemispheres
- from 1654 to 1660Anglo-Spanish War
- 1654Founding of Northampton
- 1654Treaty of Pereyaslav
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The era
This moment belongs to the Early modern world (1500 CE to 1760 CE), voyages, printing and new ideas. You can also browse everything in the 17th century.