Edwin Lord Weeks - The Taj Mahal - Walters 37316

Ustad Isa Shirazi ( fa, استاد عيسى شیرازی translation ''Master Isa'') was a

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

architect from the city of

Shiraz Shiraz (; fa, شیراز, Širâz ) is the fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars Province, which has been historically known as Pars () and Persis. As of the 2016 national census, the population of the city was 1,565,572 p ...

in Safavid Persia (modern-day

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

) often described as the assistant architect of the

Taj Mahal The Taj Mahal (; ) is an Islamic ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in the Indian city of Agra. It was commissioned in 1631 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan () to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mu ...

Agra Agra (, ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital New Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra i ...

, India. The lack of complete and reliable information as to whom the credit for the design belongs, led to innumerable speculations. Scholars suggest the story of Ustad Isa was born of the eagerness of the British in the 19th century to believe that such a beautiful building should be credited to a European architect. Local informants were reported to have started British curiosity regarding the origins of the Taj by also supplying them with fictitious lists of workmen and materials from all over Asia. Not much is currently known about his background though his surname ''Shirazi'' indicates Persian origin. Certain sources have conflated Ustad Isa Shirazi with Isa Muhammad Effendi, which would corroborate a

Turco-Persian The composite Turko-Persian, Turco-Persian
''Turko-Persia in historical perspective'', Cambridge University Press, ...

origin. Recent research suggests the architect,

Ustad Ahmad Lahauri Ustad Ahmad Lahori ( fa, ) was an architect from the South Asia-based Mughal Empire, who is said to have been the chief architect of the Taj Mahal in Agra, built between 1632 and 1648 during the rule of the Emperor Shah Jahan. Its architecture ...

was the most likely candidate as the chief architect of the Taj Mahal, an assertion based on a claim made in writings by Lahauri's son Lutfullah Muhandis.Taj Mahal Description and Profile
UNESCO website, Retrieved 18 November 2021Asher, p.212Begley and Desai, p.65
Columbia University website, Retrieved 18 November 2021

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Isa, Ustad Mughal architecture 17th-century architects Year of birth missing Year of death missing Mughal Empire people Indian architects Taj Mahal

See also

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