The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel is actually two distinct structures. The original 1903 building, designed in the Indo-Saracenic style, faces the Arabian Sea with its great dome and ornate facade. Its main entrance was originally on the landward side, where the swimming pool now sits. By 1966, the hotel had fallen into neglect -- a casualty, perhaps, of losing its British clientele after Indian independence. Revival came in 1972 when management was franchised to Pan Am's Inter-Continental Hotels division and a modern tower wing opened on the site of the demolished Green's Hotel, a building that Tata had operated since 1904. Today the complex houses 560 rooms and 44 suites, employs 1,500 staff, and serves as the flagship of Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces. In 2017, it became the first building in India to receive trademark protection for its architectural design.

Jazz once filled these corridors. From 1936 to 1960, the legendary Micky Correa -- known as "The Sultan of Swing" -- was the hotel's resident musician, his music drifting through lobbies that had hosted maharajas, freedom fighters, and film stars. The Taj has always attracted storytellers. Louis Bromfield set his 1940 novel Night in Bombay here. Michael Palin slept in the hotel during his Around the World in 80 Days journey. Christopher Nolan filmed scenes for Tenet in its halls. The building carries its history lightly, its Indo-Saracenic arches and stained glass windows providing a backdrop that seems to invite drama -- whether scripted or, as the world would discover in November 2008, devastatingly real.

On the evening of 26 November 2008, ten members of the terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba attacked multiple locations across Mumbai. The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel was specifically chosen to strike "a blow against a symbol of Indian wealth and progress." Over three days, the hotel became a battlefield. Hostages were taken. The roof was destroyed. At least 31 people died within the hotel; across all attack sites, 166 people were killed, the majority Indian citizens. Approximately 450 guests were trapped inside during the siege. Indian commandos fought room by room until the last attackers were killed on 29 November. The attack had been planned using surveillance by David Headley, a Pakistani-American who had stayed at the hotel multiple times to map its layout.

Less than a month after the siege, the less-damaged sections reopened on 21 December 2008. Rebuilding the heritage wing -- the original 1903 structure that had suffered the worst destruction -- took several more months. Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata, in an interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria, acknowledged the hotel had received advance warning of a possible attack and that some countermeasures had been taken, though they were ultimately circumvented. The reconstruction was not merely architectural. It was a statement: the Taj would not be diminished. Today, visitors walk through the same lobby, beneath the same dome, past the same view of the Gateway of India across the plaza. The hotel endures because Bombay -- now Mumbai -- has always endured. The city rebuilds. The Taj rebuilt with it.