Arjumand Bano Begum, widely famous as Mumtaz Mahal, who died in AH 1040 (AD 1630) had a final wish, that after her death, the emperor should build a tomb in her memory, which the world had never seen before". Thus Emperor Shah Jahan set about building this magic like wonder. The erection of Taj Mahal was started in AD 1631 and finished at the conclusion of 1648 AD.

For 17 years, 20,000 workmen had worked on a daily basis for the successful completion of this beautiful monument of love. Named behind the departed empress-'Mumtazabad, now acknowledged as Taj Ganj, was the colony that was built to house these workmen who were brought in from as far as Persia and Iran to give the desired shape to this amazing construction.

The calligrapher of Taj Mahal was Amanat Khan Shiraz; his name occurs at the ending of writing on one of the gates of the Taj. Poet Ghyasuddin had planned the verses on the gravestone, whereas Ismail Khan Afridi from Turkey was the dome architect. Muhammad Hanif was the manager of Masons. The designer of Taj Mahal was Ustad Ahmad Lahauri. The construction material was brought in from all over India and central Asia and it took a convoy of 1000 elephants to transfer it to the location. The central dome is 187 feet elevated at the centre. The main building material, the white marble was brought from the quarries of Makrana, located in Nagaur, Rajasthan.