Facelift for Taj Mahal: The monument gets a much needed beauty treatment

By Vivek Avasthi

The Taj Mahal, the timeless tribute to love from emperor Shah Jahan in white marble, is getting a beauty treatment. It will involve use of Multani Mitti, widely used by women in India as face pack.

Now, why does the Taj Mahal, still the most beautiful work of architecture in the country, need a facelift? Archaeologists say the monument has started showing signs of aging. The delicate skin of the monument is getting wrinkled and the white marble is yellowing, thanks to pollution.

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has already started the mud pack therapy to restore the beauty of the monument. Multani Mittii, or Fuller’s earth consists primarily of hydrous aluminium silicates or clay material.

Dr. MK Bhatnagar, Head of Chemical Department of ASI (Agra) says that the therapy of the Taj will take three years to complete as it has to be done in phases in smaller areas of the historic monument, keeping in mind the heavy pressure of tourists coming to this place on a daily basis.

The work has started on the minarets by putting scaffolding around them. Mud pack would be applied next and these areas would be covered with plastic sheets. Within two or three days the Multani Mitti will dry up and its flakes will drop automatically from the surface. It would be cleaned with distilled water to further remove impurities from the marble.

This process is repeated two to three times till the marble regains its white complexion. Two to three millimeters thick clay pack is applied to the marble surface. This is the fourth time such beauty treatment is being given to the historic monument since the 17th century. The earlier three times were in the years 1994, 2001 and 2008 respectively.

Earlier, a study on Taj Mahal was conducted by a joint team of IIT (Kanpur), Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta and the Archaeological Survey of India. The report of the study said that 55 percent dust particles, 35 percent brown carbon and 10 percent black carbon particles had collected on the marble, giving it a yellowish tinge.

Soon after this report came, in April this year, the Chairman of the Standing Parliamentary Committee for Environment and Forests, Ashwini Kumar visited the Taj Mahal and clearance to beautification of Taj Mahal was given.

Experts blame the high level of pollution from the factories and vehicles of the city for yellowing of the marble. The nearby cremation ground on the banks of river Yamuna and the Mathura Oil Refinery could be reasons adding to the problems of the Taj, they add. Winds from nearby Bayana in Rajasthan during the summer period add to the problem.

The Taj Mahal was built in 1653. Its white marble domes with minarets inlaid with semi-precious stones and carvings make it one of the finest examples of Mughal architecture in India. In 1993, it was given the status of Unesco World Heritage site and attracts thousands of visitors from across the globe every year.