The Taj Mahal is a mausoleum located in Agra, India. The Mughal Emperor Shāh Jahān commissioned its construction in 1631 as a mausoleum for his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal, following her death during the birth of their fourteenth child. Construction began in 1632 and was completed in 1648.

Court chronicles contain many stories concerning Shah Jahan's grief at Mumtaz's death; these are the basis of the "love-story" traditionally held as the inspiration for the Taj Mahal.

Soon after its completion, Shah Jahan was deposed and put under house arrest at nearby Agra Fort by his son Aurangzeb. Legend has it that he spent the remainder of his days gazing through the window at the Taj Mahal. Upon Shah Jahan's death, Aurangzeb buried him in the Taj Mahal next to his wife, the only disruption of the otherwise perfect symmetry in the architecture.