Agra

Agra 

Since the Taj Mahal was completed in the mid-1600s, the world’s most famous monument to undying love has had to put up with an awful lot of meddling mortals.
In the 18th century, its bejewelled tomb was plundered, and by the 19th century, its formal garden had been lost under a thicket of trees. By the last century, the southernmost reaches of its enclosure were overrun by the teeming city of Agra.
Today’s Taj has been cleaned and repaired, although work continues. Its current difficulties are more cultural than physical. India’s most iconic structure was built by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan and in sporadic outbursts by some extreme-thinking individuals, its relevance to the modern Indian narrative is often questioned.