Agra was the chosen city of the Mughal emperors during the early yeas. It was here that founder of the dynasty, Babur, laid out die flat formal Persian garden on the banks of the River Yamuna. Here Akbar, his grandson, raised the towering ramparts of the great Red Fort. Within Its walls Jehangir built rose-red palaces, courts and gardens Shahjehan embellished it with marbled mosques, palaces and pavilions of gem-inlaid white marble.

At Sikandra, on the outskirts of Agra, Akbur built his own garden mausoleum. And at Fatehpur Sikri he created a whole new city - a leap of the imagination that made real a unique concept of planning and design and gave expression to a style of architecture that was a perfect blend of Islamic spatial concepts and the Hindu genius for decorative sculpture. Across the river Jehangir's gifted queen, Noorjehan, deigned an exquisite marble-inlaid tomb for her parents. But Agra's crowning glory remains the Taj Mahal, a monument to love built by Shahjehan in memory of his beloved queen, Mumtaz Mal.

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