印度：泰姬陵也做“面膜”

Taj Mahal

Indian experts have begun a six-month project to clean the white marble archways, carvings and crannies of Taj Mahal --the world's greatest monument to love by coating them in a special mud.

The monumental face pack consists of multani mitti, or fuller's earth, a lime-rich clay found across northern India and used in many face masks and body treatments.

K.S. Rana, director of the science department of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI),said: “We will leave it overnight and then, the moment it starts drying, we will remove it, just like a face pack.

“The marble of the Taj Mahal is quite intact — it is very high quality. There is just some yellowing in the arched areas and other parts not exposed to the rain. The mud is being used to clean only those areas.”

The Taj complex was completed in 1653 by Shah Jahan, the Mogul emperor, in memory of Mumtaz Mahal, his second wife. It is India's top tourist site, attracting three million visitors every year.

Rising levels of dust and industrial pollutants from the surrounding city of Agra, 130 miles (210km) southeast of Delhi, have stained some of its white marble surfaces yellow.

The mud treatment, which costs about £115,000, was first tried six years ago, according to the ASI.

Some experts argue that the mud causes variations in the marble's whiteness and exposes it to fungus and even worse staining, but the ASI says that it is the only way to clean it without causing serious damage.

This year local authorities began a simultaneous campaign to clean up the surroundings of the Taj by demolishing illegal structures, banning squatting and restricting rickshaws to designated areas.

Dr Rana said that his team of two dozen experts had already erected the first set of scaffolding on a small section of the World Heritage site and would start work in the next few days.

The work would continue until late March and resume in January next year for another three months, but the monument would remain open to the public throughout that time, he said.

印度泰姬陵堪稱世界上最偉大的愛情紀念碑。日前，印度有關專家開始對泰姬陵的表面進行翻新，他們將在泰姬陵的大理石拱門、雕刻和裂縫處敷上一層特製的粘土。整個翻新工程將持續六個月。

這種特製“面膜”的主要成分是“漂白土”。漂白土產於印度北部，是一種富含石灰石的粘土，很多面膜和印度草藥護膚品中都含有這種成分。

印度考古研究所主任K·S·拉納説：“塗在表層的粘土將保留一夜，等它慢慢幹了之後，我們就把它剝下來，就和做面膜一樣。”

“泰姬陵的大理石質量很好，所以現在依然保存完好。只是拱門處和未經過雨水清洗的地方有些發黃，因此翻新工程也僅限於這些地方。”

泰姬陵於1653年建成，是印度莫卧兒王朝君主沙賈汗為了紀念他的愛妃泰吉•馬哈爾所建。泰姬陵是印度最著名的旅遊景點，每年都吸引了300萬名遊客前來觀賞。

泰姬陵位於距新德里東南130英里（210公里）的阿格拉市，由於阿格拉周邊地區的粉塵和工業污染日益嚴重，泰姬陵白色大理石表面的一些地方開始發黃。

據印度考古研究所介紹，“面膜”翻新工程將耗資約11.5萬英鎊，這一方法於六年前首次試用。

一些專家質疑這種辦法會影響大理石的潔白度，滋生菌類，反而會使大理石面變得更髒，但印度考古研究所稱這是唯一不會對泰姬陵造成嚴重破壞的清洗辦法。

與此同時，當地政府今年開始整頓泰姬陵的周圍環境——違法建築被清除、摩托車被禁止通行，黃包車只能在指定區域內活動。

拉納説，目前20多名專家已在該世界遺產景點（即泰姬陵）的一小部分搭好了首批腳手架，並將在未來幾天內正式開工。

據介紹，翻新工程將持續至今年3月下旬，並將於明年1月開始為期三個月的第二期工程，但施工期間泰姬陵仍將對外開放。