Before Shah Jahan ascended the throne as the Mughal emperor, he was popularly known as Prince Khurram.

Prince Khurram fell in love at the age of 15 with the strikingly good looking Arjumand Bano Begum and married her five years later when she was about 21 years old

Arjumand Bano Begum was the Mughal emperor's second wife.

Emperor Shah Jahan christened Arjumand Bano Begum as "Mumtaz Mahal" that means the "chosen one."

Mumtaz Mahal passed away during childbirth when she accompanied Shah Jahan on his Burhanpur military campaign.

Mumtaz Mahal is believed to have secured a promise from her devoted lover and husband during her last breath that he would construct the most beautiful memorial in the world for her.

It is believed that Emperor Shah Jahan wished to construct a mausoleum that would be a replica of the Taj in black marble. Though the plan never materialized and the emperor was laid to rest beside Mumtaz Mahal in the Taj Mahal.

Taj Mahal seems to be a derivative of Mumtaz Mahal and thus the rauza of Arjumand Bano Begum came to be known as the Taj Mahal.

More than 1000 elephants were made to transport construction materials while the construction of the Taj was in progress

Artisans, architects, stonecutters, masons, calligraphers, inlay design experts and garden designers were summoned from different parts of the world to help construct the Taj Mahal in Agra, India.

Approximately 32 million rupees were spent for the construction of this wonder monument and about 28 different varieties of semi-precious and precious stones were used to decorate the Taj with exquisite inlay work.

Each and every stone at the entire Taj Mahal complex is in perfect symmetry. The only asymmetrical thing in the entire complex is the Emperor Shah Jahan's resting place that was constructed later by his son Aurangzeb.

According to common belief Shah Jahan is known to have debilitated all the workers and craftsmen who were involved in the construction of this massive mausoleum so that they could never build something like this ever again.

Taj Mahal is one of the Seven Wonders of the World and is a UNESCO World Heritage site.