Cigarette Card

Wills’s Cigarettes “Wonders of the Past” Cigarette Card #27 “The Taj Mahal”

Produced in 1926 by W. D. & H. O. Wills.

Issued by The Imperial Tobacco Company (of Great Britain & Ireland) Ltd.

Text on reverse of card reads:

“What is admitted by all who view it to be the most lovely work achieved by human architect stands on the Jumna river near Agra in India-the Taj Mahal. Like the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus (see No. 171, it is a monument of royal grief, having been built by Shah Jehan, the Mogul Emperor of India, as a tomb for his favourite wife, Nour Mahal. It is said that 20,000 workmen laboured at its construction for 20 years, completing it in 1650. It is almost all of white marble, and of marble are the wonderful pierced screens, whose tracery is exquisitely fine, surrounding the tombs of the royal couple.”