Tomb of Itimad-ud-Daulah (Baby Taj)

The Tomb of Itimad-ud-Daulah stands in a walled garden on the eastern bank of the Yamuna River in Agra, across the river from the main city. Empress Nur Jahan, wife of the Mughal emperor Jahangir, built it between 1622 and 1628 for her parents, Mirza Ghiyas Beg and Asmat Begum.

Mirza Ghiyas Beg, a Persian noble, rose to become Jahangir's chief minister and received the title Itimad-ud-Daulah, meaning pillar of the state. The tomb is often called the Baby Taj, as it is seen as a forerunner of the Taj Mahal, built a few years later downriver. It marks the shift in Mughal architecture from the red sandstone tombs of Akbar's time to the white marble and inlay of Shah Jahan's reign, and it is considered the first Mughal building in India faced entirely in white marble.

The square tomb has an octagonal tower at each corner and a low pavilion on the roof instead of a large dome. Its surfaces are covered with pietra dura inlay of coloured stones forming wine cups, cypress trees, flower vases and geometric patterns, along with carved marble jali screens and painted decoration inside. This richness has earned it the nickname jewel box. The tomb sits at the centre of a charbagh, a garden divided into four parts by water channels and paths.

English-style lawns replaced the original Mughal planting in the 19th century, and a restoration by the Archaeological Survey of India and the World Monuments Fund in the 2010s worked to recover the garden's earlier character. The site is protected as a monument of national importance.

Tickets cost ₹310 for foreign visitors and ₹30 for Indian, SAARC and BIMSTEC visitors, and children under 15 enter free. Foreign visitors also pay a ₹500 Agra Development Authority toll, valid the same day at the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, Fatehpur Sikri and Akbar's Tomb and not charged on Fridays. The site opens from sunrise to sunset every day, and tickets can be bought online at asi.paygov.org.in. The tomb is much quieter than the Taj Mahal and is about 30 minutes away by road, so it combines easily with the Mehtab Bagh garden on the same bank. Allow about an hour.

The marble is from Makrana in Rajasthan, set on a red sandstone plinth and inlaid with carnelian, jasper, lapis lazuli, onyx and topaz. The octagonal corner towers stand about 13 metres high. Mirza Ghiyas Beg received his title after his daughter married Jahangir in 1611 and died at Agra in 1622, a few months after his wife. Some of the plant motifs follow the studies of Ustad Mansur, the court painter of Jahangir's reign. The tomb is about 4 kilometres from Agra Fort along the Aligarh road.