Itimad-ud-Daulah's Tomb

Itimad-ud-Daulah's Tomb stands on the bank of the Yamuna in Agra and predates the completion of the Taj Mahal. Nur Jahan built it for her father, Mirza Ghiyas Beg, who served as chief minister to Emperor Jahangir. It was among the first Mughal buildings to use white marble rather than red sandstone, and its delicate finish has given it the nicknames "Baby Taj" and "Jewel Box".

The marble, brought from Rajasthan, is inlaid with semi-precious stones such as jasper, onyx, topaz, cornelian and lapis lazuli, worked into cypress trees, wine bottles, sliced fruit and vases of flowers. Pierced marble jali screens let light into the interior. The cenotaphs of Ghiyas Beg and his wife lie side by side, the only break in the complex's symmetry, an arrangement later repeated in the Taj Mahal, whose decoration this tomb is often said to have influenced.