The Worlds Largest Valentine has nothing to do with chocolates, flowers or a romantic dinner. Although these are traditional elements of Cupids Day, this particular Valentine gets the prize reserved for The Top. Maybe, even, Over The Top.
Here are some clues:
1. It is 350 years old
2. It was built by a man for the woman he loved.
3. It took twenty two years and 20,000 men to complete.
4. It is twenty four stories high.
5. It sits on a marble platform larger than a football fields length squared.
6. It is adorned with semiprecious jewels
7. It is located in Agra, India.
Yes, the Taj Mahal is the Worlds Largest Valentine.
In the 1600s, Shah Jahan lost Mumtaz Mahal during the birth of their fourteenth child and his grief for his beloved wife of nineteen years was deep and real. During the mourning period he forbade color, dancing and even perfume in his sophisticated and ostentatious court.
Shah Jahan could have kept his feelings for Mumtaz locked in his heart. He could have abdicated. He could have replaced her with another queen. He did none of these. Instead, he boldly designed and had erected a mausoleum in...