INDIA’S most famous tourist attraction the Taj Mahal is set to collapse within five years unless its foundations are urgently shored up, reports said today.
The 358-year-old marble mausoleum, a Unesco World Heritage Site which is also regarded as one of the Seven Wonders of the World, brings about four million visitors a year to the northern city of Agra.
But campaigners said that they believe the foundations have become brittle and are disintegrating, the UK’s Daily Mail reports.
Cracks appeared last year in parts of the white marble tomb, and the four minarets which surround the monument are showing signs of tilting.
“If the crisis is not tackled on a war-footing, the Taj Mahal will cave in between two and five years,” Indian lawmaker Ramshankar Katheria, who represents the Agra area, said.
“The architectural wonder of the world is losing its shine, and if this persists the minarets may also collapse since the wooden foundation – beneath the wells – is rotting due to lack of water.”
Professor Ram Nath, one of the world’s leading authorities on the structure, said the Taj stands on the edge of the river Yamuna which has now dried up.
“This was never anticipated by its builders. The river is a constituent of its architectural design and if the river dies, the Taj cannot survive,” Nath said.