India, circa 1885
by John P. Nicholas

In 1631 the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan was griefstricken when his wife, Mumtaz Mahal, died while giving birth to their daughter. To assuage his grief, Jahan promised a wondrous monument as an expression of his love; nearly 15 years later the Taj Mahal was finished. Taken when trees decorated the gardens, this image shows the monument as described by the poet Sir Edwin Arnold, «Not a piece of architecture, as other buildings are, but the proud passions of an emperor’s love wrought in living stones».