The Taj Mahotsav or Taj Mahal Utsav festival at Agra celebrates the cultural heritage of Uttar Pradesh and is a reminder of the threats to the nearby Taj Mahal, India's monument to love and its most popular tourist attraction. The famed marble palace that was recently listed among the "New Seven Wonders of the World" is under attack from pollution, and a dispute has grown up over the question of how to restore it. The Action Taken Report of the environment ministry, presented to the Indian parliament in 2002, attributed the rising levels of pollution to the heavy vehicular traffic passing through Agra. In the first week of Oct 2007 the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) proposed using a mud-pack treatment of multani mitti on the monument’s main dome and arches to give it a face-lift. The compound, also known as Fuller’s Earth, is a natural bleaching agent. It's a six month process. The restorative measure is under fire from conservationalists, who say there is no hi...
The new seven wonders of the world were named Saturday following an online vote that generated server-crushing traffic in its final hours. The final tally produced this list of the world's top human-built wonders: • The Great Wall of China • Petra in Jordan • Brazil's statue of Christ the Redeemer • Peru's Machu Picchu • Mexico's Chichen Itza pyramid • The Colosseum in Rome • India's Taj Mahal Before the vote ended Friday, organizers said more than 90 million votes had been cast for 21 sites. Voting at the Web site, www.new7wonders.com, ended at 6 p.m. ET Friday. Traffic was so heavy Friday that the site was crashing at times. One message urged voters to use text messages as an alternative form of voting. "Keep on voting, as it is your votes that decide the New 7 Wonders of the World," the message said. "We have traffic that is simply off the scale," Tia Vering, spokeswoman for the "New 7 Wonders of the World" campaign, told CNN.com. ...