By Rafe Calder
The sources cannot agree on the year the Taj Mahal was started. One says 1631, another 1632. Agra is that kind of place: well documented, heavily visited and still full of small disagreements about dates.
Where it sits
Agra lies on the right bank of the Yamuna in Uttar Pradesh. Britannica puts it about 125 miles (200 km) south-east of Delhi. Wikipedia gives about 230 km, and about 210 km by the Yamuna Expressway. We show both and settle neither.
The Taj Mahal
UNESCO, which inscribed the Taj Mahal in 1983, describes an immense white marble mausoleum commissioned by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal. UNESCO gives construction as 1632 to 1648, with the outer courtyard and cloisters finished in 1653, and notes that its own description says 1631 to 1648. Wikipedia says it was commissioned in 1631, begun in 1632 and completed in 1648.
The materials are brick set in lime mortar, veneered with marble and red sandstone, according to UNESCO. The tomb stands on a raised square platform with four free-standing minarets at the corners, set in a garden of nearly 17 hectares. Wikipedia gives the platform as 300 m long and 8.7 m high, the dome as 23 m high, and each minaret as more than 40 m tall. Wikipedia and UNESCO both name Ustad Ahmad Lahori as the court architect.
The inlay
Wikipedia says 28 types of precious and semi-precious stone were set into the white marble, in pietra dura patterns of stylised vines, flowers and fruit on the spandrels and frames. Britannica mentions “intricate floral and geometric inlay designs” without naming the stones. The same Wikipedia article on Agra says marble inlay of this kind has been practised since the Mughal era and remains a local specialty, alongside carpets and zari work. Britannica’s article on the city, by contrast, lists leather goods, cut stone and handwoven carpets, and does not mention inlay.
Agra Fort
UNESCO inscribed Agra Fort in 1983 as a 16th-century Mughal monument, built of red sandstone, with an enclosure wall about 2.5 km long. It lists the Jahangir Palace, the Khas Mahal built by Shah Jahan, the Diwan-i-Khas audience hall and two mosques. Britannica says Akbar built the fort. The Japanese-language entry on UNESCO’s own site says construction began under Akbar and that most buildings date from the reign of Shah Jahan.
The Baby Taj
Britannica records the tomb of Itimad-ud-Daulah as built in 1628 of white marble, near the Taj Mahal. Wikipedia says it was commissioned by Nur Jahan for her father, Mirza Ghiyas Beg, chief minister under Jahangir, that it sits on the Yamuna’s left bank in a cruciform garden, and that it is sometimes called the Baby Taj.
Fatehpur Sikri
About 35 to 40 km from Agra, according to Wikipedia, and about 40 km south-west, according to Britannica, lies the walled city that Akbar built. UNESCO dates it to 1571 to 1573, says it was the capital for about ten years and that the capital moved to Lahore in 1585. It is built mainly of red sandstone, with little marble. UNESCO inscribed it in 1986.
Capital, then not
Wikipedia says Akbar founded the modern city in 1558 and that Agra stayed the Mughal capital until 1648, when Shah Jahan moved it to Shahjahanabad. Britannica says only that Agra served as a capital during some periods. One link to the crafts: the Bhadohi carpet makers’ own application for a protected name says Akbar brought weavers to Agra in 1580. That is a producers’ claim.
Why the cool season
Wikipedia gives January averages of about 7 °C at night and 22 °C in the day, with the monsoon arriving in early July. It also warns that dense winter fog on the northwest Indo-Gangetic plain often causes poor visibility and train delays or cancellations. Our reading: allow a spare day if a train is part of the plan.
Dates in order
- 1558: Akbar founds the modern city, according to Wikipedia.
- 1571 to 1573: Fatehpur Sikri built, according to UNESCO.
- 1628: Itimad-ud-Daulah tomb built, according to Britannica.
- 1631 or 1632: Taj Mahal commissioned or begun, according to Wikipedia and UNESCO.
- 1648: the Taj Mahal mausoleum completed; capital moves to Shahjahanabad, according to UNESCO and Wikipedia.
- 1983: Taj Mahal and Agra Fort inscribed, according to UNESCO.
What kind of sources these are
UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre, Britannica, and Wikipedia. No tourism board or Archaeological Survey page was readable, so we leave out opening days, hours, entry rules and transport. We cut Wikipedia’s visitor total and shoe-production figure.
What we left out
Prices, worker counts and folklore about the builders. The sources do not describe how the stones were cut, so we say nothing about it.
Quick answers
When was the Taj Mahal built? According to UNESCO, construction ran from 1632 to 1648, with the outer courtyard finished in 1653. UNESCO notes that its own description gives 1631 as the start.
Is Agra Fort a World Heritage Site? Yes. UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre says it was inscribed in 1983 as a 16th-century Mughal monument of red sandstone.
What is the Baby Taj? Wikipedia says it is the nickname of the tomb of Itimad-ud-Daulah, commissioned by Nur Jahan for her father. Britannica dates the white marble tomb to 1628.
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