Freelance journalist Jeffrey Bartholet has written a challenging piece for this month’s Smithsonian Magazine entitled “How to Save the Taj Mahal ?”. The article examines the ongoing preservation struggles that India’s most iconic tourist attraction continues to face.

With millions of visitors each year, the Taj Mahal is a victim of its fame. The impact of mass tourism, along with Agra’s horrific pollution problems, has resulted in a potential structural catastrophy for the monument. Local preservationists fear that the Taj Mahal, with massive foundations built on threatened arches, will soon collapse into the Yamuna River if tourism and pollution is not dramatically curtailed.

Is it time to put limits on mass tourism to save our cultural heritage? What do you think?

Related articles

• The Taj Mahal: What A Disaster… (avari.typepad.com)
• Home of the Taj Mahal – Agra, India (travelpod.com)