A Face Pack for the Taj

AGRA, India – One of the world’s most-famous stone structures – the Taj Mahal – will literally get a facial makeover early this year.
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) will apply a pack of multani mitti, a lime-rich clay once used as a beauty treatment by Indian women, to the outside of the marble structure as a natural cleanser, reports the The Times of India.
The monument to eternal love suffers, along with other structures in the region, from airborne dirt and pollutants. Thick winter dew compounds the situation on the porous marble surface, notes the Times.
Once started, the process should take one month. The clay will be applied on the dirtier parts of Taj and left for a week; if it doesn’t peel off on its own, the clay will be washed off the monument.
An effort to clean Taj several years ago apparently used the mixture for interior areas as well as parts of the monument’s gateway and the four surrounding minarets.
The Times also reports that the ASI is examining the 357-year-old monument for cracked marble slabs. Iron dowels used to keep different slabs of marble together are rusting and expanding, and resulting pressure may crack some slabs.
A slab would be replaced only if in a very bad shape, according to ASI officials. Replacement marble would be sourced from Makrana in Rajasthan – the original quarry area – and would be matched for texture.