ITIMAD-UD-DAULA

Better known by its nickname "Baby-Taj", it is the tomb of Mirza Ghiyas Beg, the vizier of Jahangir. The emperor gave him the title of Itimad-ud-Daula, which means the Pillar of Government. The daughter of the vizier, Mehrunissa, although already married, fell in love with emperor Jahangir. When he married her, he gave her the nickname Nur Mahal, the light of the palace. The passion prevailing, he went so far as to give her the beautiful Nur Jahan, "light of the world". It is thus the latter who had this refined tomb built after the death of her father in 1622. The writer Indu Sundaresan has dedicated a fascinating diptych to Mehrunissa and her love story with the emperor Jahangir: The Twentieth Wife followed by The Rose Feast.

Built between 1622 and 1628, it is the first monument entirely in marble in the country. It marks the transition between the architecture of red sandstone inlaid with marble as the mausoleum of Humayun and the use of white marble inlaid with pietra dura as the Taj Mahal. The tomb is located in the center of an orthodox cross-shaped garden and surrounded by a high wall. In the middle of each of these walls, at the fall of the cardinal points, stands a monumental pavilion of red sandstone inlaid with white marble. This arrangement is inspired by the architectural style of Persian mosques. Red sandstone paved alleys lead from each portal to the tomb. The tomb is positioned in the center of a central platform of red sandstone with white marble motifs on its plinth. The mausoleum consists of a flat-roofed quadrangle of white Rajasthani marble, surrounded by four chhatris-capped towers and a shorter, rectangular, domed tower. The walls are entirely inlaid with semi-precious stones: jasper, onyx, carnelian, lapis lazuli and topaz. This polychromy allows the creation of ornamental motifs of great beauty and delicacy drawing bouquets in vases, cut fruits or cypresses. Each of the walls is pierced by four jiali, or openwork stone claustra. They allow light to enter the tomb. In the center, a Persian archway opens onto an antechamber that provides direct access to the tomb of Mirza Ghiyas Beg and that of his wife. They are also interconnected by a set of corridors to the chambers at each corner of the building, which contain the cenotaphs of other family members. Each room is the object of an important work of ornamentation.