A World Heritage Monument, the Taj Mahal is considered to be the most successful work of the Mughal Empire that ruled over a vast area from present-day Afghanistan to Burma and from the Himalayan mountains to the southern Indian subcontinent . With such a territory and such a variety of peoples, the Moghols were born of a very large cultural mixture that is found in the arts, especially architecture and miniatures, two areas in which they became masters.
The Taj Mahal is a complex of 580 m long and 300 m wide divided into 3 parts in a row that reproduces paradise according to the Muslim religion. The first part, the southernmost, is a passage between life on Earth and Paradise, there is an inner courtyard and the mausoleum of the Emperor’s first two wives. Then, after passing the big door, the visitor enters the “Paradise”, symbolized by the perfectly ordered garden typical of the Moghal art. This garden is filled with religious symbols. At the end, a staircase leads to the terrace, which houses the main mausoleum of white marble, a mosque and the guest pavilion, a replica of the mosque, on the other side of the terrace and therefore necessarily opposite to the other side.
When Empress Mumtaz Mahal died in the 16th century, emperor Shah Jahan made him build a tomb that he wanted as perfect as possible. By relying on the tombs previously built by his ascendants, he was able to reach a level of perfection that was never equalled.