A business graduate of Southern Methodist University in Texas, David T. Ball enjoys traveling in his spare time. Among the global destinations to which David T. Ball has traveled is India, where he visited the Taj Mahal.
A UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, the Taj Mahal is a stunning 17th-century mausoleum located on the banks of the Yamuna River in Agra, India. The structure was commissioned by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan to memorialize his third wife, Mumtaz, and ultimately completed in the 1650s. Today, the white marble structure stands as a testament to Jahan’s love as well as the architectural style of a lost era.
Adding to the legacy of the mausoleum is the belief among some that Jahan intended for there to be a second Taj Mahal. According to this theory, his plans involved constructing a black-marble mausoleum on the other side of the Yamuna River for his own remains. The two structures would face each other across the water and be linked by a bridge. Unfortunately for Jahan, he was deposed by his son shortly after the first Taj Mahal was completed, and he never lived to see his plans comes to fruition. When Shah Jahan died, he was buried beside his wife in the original mausoleum.
A UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, the Taj Mahal is a stunning 17th-century mausoleum located on the banks of the Yamuna River in Agra, India. The structure was commissioned by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan to memorialize his third wife, Mumtaz, and ultimately completed in the 1650s. Today, the white marble structure stands as a testament to Jahan’s love as well as the architectural style of a lost era.
Adding to the legacy of the mausoleum is the belief among some that Jahan intended for there to be a second Taj Mahal. According to this theory, his plans involved constructing a black-marble mausoleum on the other side of the Yamuna River for his own remains. The two structures would face each other across the water and be linked by a bridge. Unfortunately for Jahan, he was deposed by his son shortly after the first Taj Mahal was completed, and he never lived to see his plans comes to fruition. When Shah Jahan died, he was buried beside his wife in the original mausoleum.
