Scaffolding will cover the Taj Mahal's main dome next year while a "mud pack" is applied to its yellowing marble, authorities said as they battle the effects of smog on the country's top tourist attraction. The famed monument to love, which attracts millions of visitors, has for years been acquiring a yellow tinge despite a ban on coal-powered industries in the area.
Authorities have been applying "mud packs" around the side walls and towers since last year to draw the impurities out of the stone, but have not yet touched the main central dome. The mud-pack therapy involves covering the surface with fuller's earth and leaving it to dry before removing it with soft brushes and distilled water. The scaffolding could be up for around six months. In May, authorities had ordered an investigation after green-tinged patches began appearing on the back wall of the monument, which stands on the banks of the heavily polluted Yamuna river.
