The Taj Mahal is a world famous mausoleum located in Agra, a city in the country, India. It was built by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan. He did it in the loving memory of his wife, Mumtaz Mahal who was his favorite among all his wives.

The process of building the Taj Mahal, started around 1632 B.C. It took almost 21 years to complete the Taj Mahal around the year 1653. The building was designed by the Ustad Ahmad Lahauri and build with the help of thousands of craftsmen and artisans.

Once the Taj Mahal was complete, Emperor Shah Jahan was deposed by his son Aurangzeb. He was then put under house arrest by Aurangzeb, at the Agra Fort near the Taj Mahal. Afterwards, when Shah Jahan died, the new Emperor Aurangzeb buried him in the Taj Mahal, right next to his wife.

Many years passed by and in the late 19th century, many parts of the Taj Mahal fell badly into disrepair. When the Indian rebellion started in 1857, the Taj Mahal was defaced by the British government officials and soldiers, who actually chiseled out the very precious stones and lapis lazuli from the Taj Mahal’s walls.

Near the end of 19th century, the British viceroy Lord Curzon started a massive restoration project. The project finished in the year, 1908. Then in the 1942, the Indian government ordered the erection of scaffolding, because it anticipated an air attack by the German Luftwaffe as well as the Japanese Air Force.

At the time of the India-Pakistan war in both the, year 1965 and 1971 the erection of the scaffoldings was again done to mislead the bomber pilots. In the recent years the Taj Mahal has faced threat in the form of environmental pollution happening on the banks of Yamuna River like the acid rain caused by the pollution done by the Mathura oil refinery.

Finally in the 1983, the Taj Mahal was recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.