Having seen the Taj Mahal and Red Fort, I finished off the eventful day by visiting the tomb of I’timād-ud-Daulah (known as the “baby Taj”) and Mehtab Bagh, the park opposite the Taj Mahal.
The baby Taj in any other place would be regarded as extraordinary. It’s overshadowed in Agra by the Taj Mahal. However, it is a beautiful, stunning building.
The baby Taj was a precursor to the Taj and possibly regarded as a draft version. Like the Taj, the baby Taj is made of white marble and has pietra dura. These are the patterns and images created by cutting precious and semi-precious polished stones and embedding them into the white marble. The result is a seamless image.
The view of the Taj Mahal is impressive from the Mehtab Bagh park.
Pietra dura: the coloured sections are other stones embedded into the white marble so that it looks like one seamless image
Ceiling
Entrance gate
View of Taj Mahal from Mehtab Bagh park.