However, Agra is best known for the Taj Mahal, one of the seven wonders of the modern world. Emperor Shah Jahan built this exquisite white marble mausoleum for his favorite queen Mumtaz Mahal. Declared a world Heritage site by the UNESCO, the Taj Mahal has always evoked varying emotions from wonder to ecstasy and often times, inspired poetic verse. Over the centuries, it has become the symbol of undying love and flawless beauty. The monument was commissioned in 1631 and took 20,000 artisans 22 years to complete. An entire township now known as Taj Ganj came up around the site. Here, craftsmen live and sell their wares of marble and stone inlay and replicas of the Taj. After the reign of the last great mughal, Aurangzeb, Agra fell into the hands of the Jats and then the Marathas. In 1803, the British under General Lake captured the city. Once again, it secured its position of eminence as the capital of the north- western provinces. After the sepoy Mutiny of 1857, the capital of the central province and its High court were moved to Allahabad. From the rule of the Jats to the early British period, Agra’s monuments were plundered and exquisitely crafted pieces transported away. The city fell into decline and disarray till modern times, when people rediscovered its historical importance and tremendous tourist potential.

There was a shift in the power play and Agra became the most important seat of Mughal power in India between the 16 th and 17 th centuries. Since Agra was one of the most important cities under the Mughal’s, it witnessed some big scale renovation and development from time to time. Babur, the founder of the Mughal dynasty laid out the first formal Persian garden on the banks of river Yamuna. His grandson Akbar raised the towering ramparts of the Great Red Fort besides making Agra a center for learning arts and commerce. The fort contains splendid palaces both in red sandstone and white marble built by two generations of prolific builders Akbar and later Jahangir and Shahjahan. Of the nearly 500 buildings built in the Bengal and Gujarat traditions only a few have survived, arrayed in a band on the riverfront. The fort is auricular in shape and its colossal double walls rise 20 m in height and measure 2.5 m in circumference. The fort is encircled by a fetid moat. The lofty battlements of the Agra fort cast its protective shadow over the far stretching mansions of nobles and princes built along the riverfront. The magnificent towers, bastions and ramparts and majestic gateways symbolized the confidence and power of the third Mughal emperor. The fort contains splendid palaces both in red sandstone and white marble built by two generations of prolific builders, Akbar and later on by Jahangir and Shahjahan, of the nearly 500 Akbari buildings built in the Bengal and Gujarati traditions, only a few have survived, arrayed in a band on the riverfront. His son Jahangir built rose-red palaces, courts and gardens inside the red fort, and emperor Shah Jahan, known for his great love for architecture gave Agra its most prized monument, the magnificent Taj Mahal. Built in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal.

                                                                                                                                                                  << Back