Environment: Is the Taj Mahal Doomed?

Industrial pollution is eating away India's great monument

It has been called the greatest compliment ever paid to a woman. Built 3½ centuries ago by the bereaved Mogul Emperor Shah Jehan as a tomb for his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal (Chosen of the Palace), the Taj Mahal is perhaps the most extravagant and beautiful mausoleum in the world. Made of shimmering white marble from Rajasthan, its domes and minarets glow so brightly, even in moonlight, that large sections were wrapped in burlap during the most recent India-Pakistan war out of fear that Pakistani aircraft...

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