 majestically on the banks of river Yamuna, the Taj Mahal is synonymous to love and romance. The name Taj Mahal was derived from the name of Shah Jah's wife, Mumtaz Mahal, and means Crown Palace. Poet Rabindranath Tagore described it as a teardrop on the cheek of eternity. Rudyard Kipling as the embodiment of all things pure, while its creator, Emperor Shah Jahan said, it made the sun and the moon shed tears from their eyes. At the brink of dawn, when the first rays of sun hits the dome of this epic monument, it radiates like a heavenly abode, gloaked in bright golden. And then at dusk, basking in the glory of moon, it shines like a perfectly carved diamond, appearing as if straight out of some magical tale, leaving the viewer's awestruck by its sense of grandeur. Shah Jahan as a memorial built the Taj for his wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died giving birth to their 14th child in 1631. Construction of the Taj began the following year. Although the main building has been built in 8 years, the whole complex was not completed until 1653. Not long after it was finished, Shah Jahan was overthrown by his son Aurangzeb and imprisoned in Agra 4, where for the rest of his days, he could only gaze out his creation through a window. Following his death in 1666, Shah Jahan was buried here alongside his beloved Mumtaz. In total, some 20,000 people from India and Central Asia worked on the building. Ornamental gardens are set out along classical Mughal Char Bagh lines, a square quarter by water courses, with an ornamental marble plinth at its centre. The Taj Mahal itself stands on a raised marble platform at the northern end of the ornamental gardens, with its back to the Yamuna River. Its raised position means that the backdrop is only sky, a master stroke of design. Purely decorative 40-metre-high white minaret grays each corner of the platform. After more than three centuries, they are not quite perpendicular. But they may have been designed to lean slightly outwards so that in the event of an earthquake, they would fall away from the precious Taj. The red sandstone mosque to the west is an important gathering place for Agra's Muslims. The identical building to the east, the Jawaab was built for the cemetery. Directly below the main tomb is the cenotaph of Mumtaz Mahal, an elaborate false tomb surrounded by an excusative perforated marble. Beside it, offsetting the cemetery of the Taj is the cenotaph of Shah Jahaab. Light is admitted into the central chamber by finely cut marble screens. The real tombs of Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahaab are in a locked basement room below the main chamber and cannot be viewed. The Taj was designated a World Heritage Site in 1983 and looks nearly as immaculate today as when it was first constructed. Nothing short of an architectural marble, no wonder it stands proud at being one of the seven wonders of the world. And obviously, it is in the list of seven wonders of India as well. Stay tuned to know more about the seven wonders of India. See you people in the next video. Till then, it's a bye from Design History team.