When Mughal ruler Shah Jahan’s favourite wife died of postpartum complications, he summoned artisans from all over the Muslim world to build a mausoleum in her memory. The building took 22 years to construct, employing 20,000 men and 1,000 elephants. Inspired by depictions of the Koran in heaven, its white marble facade changes colour throughout the day, transforming to a dusty pink at sunset. As you’ve probably already guessed, the end result was the Taj Mahal. While the Indian landmark’s romantic origins are well-known, there are a plethora of other buildings that have similar love stories attached to them.
Le Petit Trianon, Versailles
One of the finest examples of French neoclassical architecture, Le Petit Trianon is a ‘small’ villa in Versailles. Established as a home for the French court outside of Paris by King Louis XV, he spent years adding to and improving the site, often inspired by the tastes of his favourite mistress, Madame du Pompadour. She was the driving force behind the construction of Le Petit Trianon, which was intended as an escape from the dramas of life at court. Tragically, the building wasn’t completed until eight years after Madame de Pompadour's death, so she never got to see it come to life. Instead, it was her great rival, Madame du Barry, who took up residence there. But it was Louis XV’s daughter-in-law, Marie Antoinette, who really made it her own – putting her own personal stamp on it.
The Albert Memorial, Hyde Park
Queen Victoria channelled her all-consuming grief for her late husband, Prince Albert, into this memorial of the same name. Standing 176-feet tall, the gothic revival style monument features an ornate canopy sheltering a statue of the prince below, and took 10 years and £120,000 of public money to build. She was undoubtedly inspired by fellow monarch King Edward I, who built 12 monuments – dubbed the Eleanor Crosses – at every destination his beloved wife Queen Eleanor’s funeral procession stopped at on its way to London.
Mirabell Palace, Salzburg
Mirabell Palace, originally Altenau Castle, is another example of a bolthole built for a royal mistress. A literal pleasure dome, it was the home of Prince-Archbishop Wolf Dietrich Raitenau, his lover Salome Alt, and their children, which he commissioned in 1606 following an attack of gout as an escape from life in crowded, chaotic Salzburg. The family were driven out following a coup, and their home renamed and remodelled, but a fountain that stands in the grounds to this day is said to have been modelled on Salome herself.
Château de Chenonceau, France
It’s unsurprising that this incredibly lovely château in the Loire Valley was the cause of a romantic power struggle in the 16th century. Built between 1514 and 1522 on the site of a previous castle, it was a gift from King Henry II to his mistress, Diane de Poitiers. Yet upon Henry’s death, his widow Catherine de Medici seized the property as her own, moving Diane into one of the couple’s lesser residences. It’s easy to see what they were fighting over: the late Gothic, early Renaissance building appears fairytale-like floating on the water of the River Chef, with a series of beautiful arches and turrets.
Coral Castle, Florida
A memorial to heartbreak, this limestone oddity was built by the eccentric artist Edward Leedsalnin over a period of 28 years after he was rejected by his fiancée on the eve of their wedding. The site comprises multiple giant sculptures of objects including a chair and a crescent moon, which are carved from whole pieces of oolite, a kind of fossilised limestone. Due to the vast size of the pieces, and the fact that the construction is so seamless (no light shines through the cracks), some have suggested that Leedsalnin levitated the rock, or that he used reverse magnetism – claims that gained popularity due to the fact he allowed no one to witness him working.
Ca’ d’Oro, Venice
It’s ironic now that Ca’ d’Oro is considered to be one of the best surviving examples of a Venetian Gothic palazzo. In 1846, it was bought by the Russian prince Alessandro Trubetzkoy for his new wife, Maria Taglioni, who had a habit of collecting canal-side residences. Her other passion? Renovation. She asked her architect, Giovan Battista Meduna, to set about remodelling the building, but to say he went overboard is an understatement. He was arrested and charged with vandalism for recklessly removing original features, like balconies and staircases, as well as adding new windows to the facade.
Boldt Castle, New York State
The story behind Boldt Castle reads like something from a Brothers Grimm tale. In 1900, construction on a six-storey castle began on the very romantically named Heart Island. It was intended as a gift from hotel magnate George C. Boldt to his wife Louise, and was to be one of the largest private homes in the US at that time. Tragically, Louise died suddenly before the building could be completed, and George never returned to the castle, which lay abandoned for decades and became the target of vandals. Thanks to $50 million of funding the castle is now open to the public, with guests able to watch a short film about its history.
