ITIMAD-UD-DAULAH MAUSOLEUM                                                              Architectural similarities to the Taj Mah can not be missed as one views the Mausoleum from the Entry Gate.  Often described as a “jewel box,” it is sometimes called the “Baby Tāj” and regarded as a draft of that larger and more famous mausoleum. Built between 1622 and 1628, the structure is approximately 23 meters square and sits on a base of about 50 meters.  Although there is no comparison to the Taj Mahal in terms of grandness and scale, Itimad-ud-Daulah is more delicate in appearance, due in part to its finely carved jali (marble lattice screens). The mausoleum was the first Mughal structure built completely from marble, the first to make extensive use of pieta dura, and the first tomb to be built on the banks of the Yamuna, which until then had been a sequence of beautiful pleasure gardens.

Quadrangle and Other Public Spaces