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Taj Mahal, India
Between 1631 and 1648, some 20,000 artisans worked on this mausoleum commissioned in Agra by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan for his favourite wife. The surrounding 17 hectares (42 acres) of green parkland and red pathways are beautifully conceived to set off its white marble symmetry. But it’s when you get up close and witness the jaw-dropping array of semi-precious and precious stones in its walls that you really understand the labour involved in creating this high point of Indo-Islamic architecture.
