Agra

Agra is a city in northern India’s Uttar Pradesh state. It's

 home to the iconic Taj Mahal, a mausoleum built for the Mughal ruler Shah Jahan’s wife, Mumtaz Mahal (who died in childbirth in 1631). 

The imposing main building features a massive dome and intricately carved white marble inlaid with precious stones. This is set behind a reflecting pool inside a courtyard defined by 4 minarets.

Near the Taj Mahal are the 20m-high red-brick walls of Agra Fort, a grand Mughal fortress and palace, much of it dating to the 16th and 17th centuries.

 Across the Yamuna River is another striking tomb, Itimad-ud-Daula, which prefigures the Taj Mahal by a few years, earning it the nickname "Baby Taj.” West of the city is the remarkably well-preserved “ghost city” of Fatehpur Sikri,

whose red-sandstone royal apartments, harem quarters and pavilions date to the late 1500s, when it was briefly the capital of the Mughal empire.