If you're lucky enough to get a room with a view, you'll see it right away. A shimmering monument of white, it floats above the shabby city of Agra. From afar, the Taj Mahal is as beautiful as the poets promise--a glowing tribute to obsessive adoration and a symbol of India around the world. But up close, the picture begins to crumble. Acid rain and condensation from the former Mughal capital's coke-fueled factories and, environmentalists say, a nearby oil refinery are eating away the marble and turning what remains the color of unloved teeth. The famous canals and watercourses stink. Garbage...
At The Taj Mahal, Grime Amid Grandeur
Pollution and commerce endanger one of the world's most beautiful buildings
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