The Taj Mahal was built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan from 1632 - 1654. It was built after his 3rd wife, Mumtaz Mahal, died in childbirth after 19 years of marriage. The two are said to have shared an incredible love, and - unusual for the time - Jahan shared his political duties with Mahal. After the death of Mahal, Jahan was wrought with grief, and ordered the construction of the Taj Mahal on the bank of the Yamuna river as a grandiose mausoleum for his lost lover. French explorer Jean-Baptiste Tavernier visited the completed Taj Mahal in 1665, one year before the death of Shah Jahan. He later wrote that Jahan had planned to build an identical mausoleum for himself on the other side of the river, however that his would be black. Thus, the legend of the Black Taj Mahal was born, with different sources citing different reasons for it never having been completed. Modern opinion is that it was simply a myth, and that Jahan had planned to rest alongside Mahal inside her mausoleum, where he still does today.
Bonus:
The name 'Taj Mahal' is thought to be a contraction of the name of Mumtaz Mahal ('Z' and 'J' are often interchanged in Hindi and Urdu).
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