The Red Taj

This guide to the Red Taj in Agra tells of John William Hessing, a Dutch-born colonel who commanded Agra Fort for the Maratha Empire and died in 1803, just months before the British Army arrived to claim it. It follows his widow, Anne Derridon, as she built him a red-sandstone echo of the Taj Mahal in this Roman Catholic cemetery, matching its dome, arches and symmetry, with inscriptions recording his rank, nationality and years far from his native Utrecht. Most visitors to Agra never find this gate, tucked among the graves of other Europeans who never went home.