Project Team
Jean François Milou, principal architect
Suzanne Ogge, museum and international projects specialist

Client
UNESCO

Consultancy Service Scope
Mission Study

Protective perimeter of the Taj Mahal

This mission was commissioned by UNESCO and ICOMOS following a debate in India on the construction of the foundations of a new road along the River Yamuna between the Taj Mahal and the Agra Fort within the framework of the “Taj Corridor” project. The situation created by construction work carried out within the framework of the Taj Corridor project has shown the insufficiency of the regulations protecting a site labeled as part of the cultural heritage of humanity.

Following consultation with representatives of the Archaeological Survey of India, Jean François Milou recommended the extension of the site inscribed on the World Heritage List to include a series of gardens, which, together with the Taj Mahal and the Fort, constitute a unique ensemble bearing witness to the development of Mughal culture in India in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

This extension would involve the nomination of the following gardens:

• Ram Bagh Garden (1526 – 1530)
• Itimud ud Daulah Garden (1622 – 1628)
• Chini Ki Rauza Garden (1639)
• Mehtab Bagh (1632 – 1648)

This mission was a monitoring mission on the state of conservation and the threat on the world heritage monument surroundings, it has been a decisive step forward in the protection of the Yamuna riverscape surrounding the Agra fort and the Tan Mahal: https://whc.unesco.org/en/soc/1084