Taj city gets a facelift

published by Asianpost on Wed, 06/14/2006 - 19:07

Taj Mahal

Agra, home to the world's most famous monument to love, is to be given a facelift to attract tourists to the ancient Indian city's other two World Heritage sites.

Most visitors come to the city of Agra, just 210 kilometres from the capital of New Delhi, to visit the Taj Mahal without even knowing of the 17th-century Red Fort and nearby Fatehpur Sikri, a ghost town that was the capital of the Mogul empire in the 1500s.

“Agra is the only city in the world that has three World Heritage sites, but most people visit the Taj Mahal and leave,” said N.C. Joshi, a Tourism Ministry spokesman.

Nearly 2.5 million tourists visited the Taj Mahal last year, according to official estimates.

The white-marble domed monument was built by the Mogul Emperor Shah Jahan between 1632 and 1654 for his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. It houses their graves and a mosque, as well as several other graves of lesser Mogul royalty.

The government plans to develop a host of other monuments in and around Agra and add other attractions for tourists, Joshi said.

It is also pushing for an international airport at Agra so that visitors can fly directly to the city.