India’s Taj Mahal took over a decade to build, employed thousands of workers and nearly bankrupted an empire—all so a man could express his love for a woman. Mughal emperor Shah Jahan commissioned the famed landmark around 1632. It was intended as a tomb for his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died giving birth to the couple’s 14th child. According to accounts, the Shah was so despondent after his spouse’s passing that he entered a prolonged period of mourning, renouncing music and other forms of entertainment for two years. He built the Taj Mahal—with its elaborate minarets, 250-foot-high domed mausoleum and 42-acre grounds—primarily as a monument to her memory. When he died in 1666, Shah Jahan was buried alongside his beloved wife in the Taj’s white marble tomb.