Still, seeing it up close offers a very different sense of scale.

Its white marble dome rises against Agra’s skyline, in a city that once served as the capital of the Mughal Empire.

For many, it’s a symbol of everlasting love. For others, an architectural achievement in India’s history. And for millions, it remains a proud example of Islamic artistry in a Hindu-majority nation.

Built between 1632 and 1653 by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal, the mausoleum took an estimated 22 years and more than 20,000 workers to complete.

Mumtaz died in 1631 at only 39, shortly after giving birth to the couple’s 14th child. Her death devastated Shah Jahan, who commissioned the Taj Mahal as her tomb.

On a recent trip organised by India’s Ministry of External Affairs, FMT Lifestyle visited this 17th-century masterpiece with experienced guide Ramesh Deewan.

Astonishingly, you won’t get even a glimpse of the monument while approaching it. Once through the red-sandstone gateway, the Taj appears across a long pool lined with 49 fountains. Its perfect symmetry is instantly striking.

“All four sides are identical,” Ramesh explained. “If you divide it down the middle, it folds like a book.”

He said that, in those days, craftsmen used a bowstring and arrow to measure the exact centre of the structure. “When you look from the front, there are no trees or walls behind it,” Ramesh added. “That’s how that floating illusion is created.”

The structure is made from Makrana marble from Rajasthan, known for its hardness (stronger than iron or copper), subtle translucence, and resistance to staining. “That’s why it has kept its look all these years, even in harsh weather,” Ramesh said.

Embedded in the marble are semi-precious stones: turquoise, jasper and onyx, a craft known as pietra dura. “The black calligraphy, which are verses from the Quran, is not painted,” he added. “It’s black onyx, cut and inlaid into the marble.”

“They cut the stone with diamond-tipped iron chisels,” Ramesh said. “Workers’ fingers would bleed. Sometimes dust entered the eyes and made them blind.”

Many of those craftsmen’s descendants, now in their 14th generation, still practise pietra dura in Agra today, a craft passed down only within families.

The Taj’s minarets, though appearing perfectly straight, actually lean outward. “About 2.7 degrees,” Ramesh pointed out. “If an earthquake comes, they fall away from the main dome. That’s smart engineering from 400 years ago.”

Construction methods were equally remarkable. “In those days there were no cranes or lifts,” Ramesh said. “Marble was carried on bamboo scaffolding.”

Inside, no photographs are allowed. You’re given shoe covers and swept along in a short loop past the replica tombstones. Compared with the majestic exterior, the interior is modest.

“Inside and outside, the Taj is constructed with only pure marble, the pieces interlocked,” he shared.

As with many historical monuments, myths linger. One of the most famous claims is that Shah Jahan planned a black marble twin across the river for himself.

“Nice story,” Ramesh smiled, “but it’s not true.” Historians believe it arose when an European traveller mistook the Taj’s moonlit reflection for a dark structure.

A short distance away stands Agra Fort, completed in 1573, once the main residence of the Mughal emperors built under Akbar.

Aurangzeb, the sixth Mugham emperor, seized the throne after defeating his brothers – even ordering one of them beheaded – and imprisoned his father, Shah Jahan.

Shah Jahan spent his final eight years confined in the fort’s Musamman Burj tower, with only a distant view of the Taj Mahal.

“When his eyesight got weak, his daughter placed a crystal on the wall to magnify the view.” The crystal, once as valuable as a diamond, has since been stolen.

The enormous complex, now a Unesco World Heritage site, feels like a city within a city: palaces, mosques, gardens, fountains and towers. Shah Jahan later added marble structures, creating a striking contrast against the red sandstone.

Empires have risen and fallen, wars have been fought and borders redrawn, yet the Taj Mahal still stands, drawing millions of visitors each year. Around four hundred years later, it remains flawless.