UNESCO – Ingliando

On this day in India, Mumtaz Mahal, the wife of the fifth Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan, died giving birth to their fourteenth child, Gauhara Begum. Racked with grief for the death of his wife, Jahan commissioned the construction of the Taj Mahal in her memory. Construction started in 1632, and the ivory-white marble mausoleum was completed in 1648, while the surrounding buildings and garden were finished five years later. The Taj Mahal was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983 for being “the jewel of Islamic art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world’s heritage”. It is regarded as one of the best examples of Mughal architecture and a symbol of Indian history. It is also a major tourist attraction and attracts more than five million visitors a year. In 2007, it was declared a winner of the New 7 Wonders of the World initiative.

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On this day, King Alaungpaya of Burma sent a sumptuous manuscript written on rolled gold and decorated with 24 rubies to King George II of England. The letter was an invitation to the already economically and politically influential British East India Company to set up a fortified trading post at the harbour city of Pathein on the southwestern coast of Burma. Both kings stood to profit: Alaungpaya could exalt his reputation in the world and to his people, while George could further his economic strategy against the competition from the French East India Company. Unfortunately, the letter was not understood and, being seen as a rather magnificent curiosity, ended up being archived for 250 years. Only in 2005 was the letter finally ‘rediscovered’ and in 2015 was included by UNESCO in the ‘Memory of the World Register’.