The Taj was designed by an Italian Architect
Some European scholars held the view that the Taj was designed by an
Italian - Geronimo Veroneo. This was first suggested by Father Manrique, an
Augustinian Friar, who came to Agra in 1640 A.D. to secure the release of
Father Antony who had been imprisoned by the Mughals. It was in Lahore that
he met Father Joseph de Castro, the executor of Veroneo who died at Lahore
in 1640 A.D., and it was Castro who told him about "the Venetian by the
name Geronimo Veroneo who came in the Portuguese ships and died in the city
of Lahore before he reached it..."
During the reign of Jehangir, a goldsmith named Veroneo did in fact come to
India and, as mentioned by Father Manrique, did die on his way to Lahore. He
lived for a time in Agra, and prospered there. He knew many influential
Europeans throughout the North Indian provinces, and when he died, he was
buried in the Christian cemetery of Padres Santos in Agra.
The theory that Veroneo designed the Taj is intriguing and still finds
occasional champions, especially in Italy. But the scales of evidence weigh
heavily against it. True there is the testimony of Father Manrique, but he
was no more than a casual tourist who heard that the Taj had been built by
an Italian.
However, nowhere else is mention made of Veroneo's participation in
planning the Taj Mahal. As a matter of fact, there is no record that Veroneo
had any skill other than that of working gold. Other Europeans who saw the
Taj under construction never mentioned his name, and furthermore, it is
difficult to suppose that an artist trained in seventeenth century Italy,
the Italy of Bernini, could build a mausoleum that would typify Indo-Persian
architecture. The Taj is not an isolated phenomenon, the creation of a
single mastermind but the glorious consummation of a great epoch of art.
