Agra (1 of 2)
It's a magical time when the air is cool and the morning light spreads across the Taj, turning it from dark purple to pale blue and finally a golden glow.
Described as the most extravagant monument ever built for love, this sublime Mughal mausoleum is India's most ogled icon. Many have tried to sum up its beauty - 'a teardrop on the face of eternity' according to Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore, 'the embodiment of all things pure' according to British writer Rudyard Kipling. As an architectural masterpiece it stands alone.
In total, some 20,000 people from India and Central Asia worked on the building. Specialists were brought in from as far afield as Europe to produce the exquisite marble screens and marble inlay work made with thousands of semiprecious stones.
