The Taj Mahal
Also in Agra, but certainly deserving of its own page...
Built by ruler Shah Jahan to memorialize his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died in 1630 at the age of 39 during the birth of their 14th child, the Taj Mahal is certainly the world's most famous mausoleum and one of its favorite structures and places. Unlike many of the world's "must see" places we've been, this one truly measures up to its hype. It's stunningly beautiful in white marble with jeweled inlay, it's fairly large, it sits on well-protected, beautiful grounds on the bank of the Yamuna River, and is fairly well-preserved in the middle of an otherwise grimy city. It took 20,000 laborers over 22 years to build. Equally intriguing is the foundation (without structure) on the opposite bank of the river where Shah Jahan planned to build a mirror image mausoleum to himself out of black marble. His lunatic son put a stop to the building of this second tomb when he killed all of his brothers and imprisoned his father so he could become the new ruler. As a result, Shah Jahan's wife is buried in the middle of the Taj Mahal, while he is buried off to the side.
click on a picture to enlarge it