Taj Mahal, India

Taj Mahal (meaning "Crown of the Palace") is an Islamic marble mausoleum on the right bank of the Yamuna river in the city of Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was commissioned in 1631 by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan to house the tomb of his favorite wife, which is in the center of a 17-hectare complex with a mosque, a guest house, and massive gardens. Taj Mahal is controlled by the Government of India, designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1983 and listed among the "New Seven Wonders of the World" in 2007. Construction of the Taj Mahal's mausoleum took over 12 years and employed 20,000 artisans, with a few sections finished as late as 1653. Historians estimate the overall costs of the project at 70 billion Indian Rupees (adjusted for inflation in 2020), or about $1 billion.