Unesco

The end of Aurangzeb was the beginning of the chaos. The throne struggles between the other three sons except Akbar who died in exile in 1704, was unfortunately weakened and divided the Empire. Delhi was occupied by the Persian commander Nadir Shah in 1739. The famous Peacock Throne and treasures were abducted. The Jats plundered the marbles, sandstone jewels and silver gates of Taj Mahal of Agra for building their own palace as the growing local military power. The city of Agra was then captured by the Marathas and the valuable buildings of city were again continued to be plundered for the use of the new construction projects. The army of the East India Company, the alliance with local rulers and the British government took Agra in 1803 from the Marathas supported by the French mercenaries. Even the restoration works started in 1810, Taj Mahal was, however, not respected by the British. The holy place was unfortunately rented for the parties and balls and the lords attempted to steal and sell the artefacts shamelessly.

The Hindu and Muslim soldiers of the East India Company rebelled against the British in 1857, so-called Mutiny. When the rebels captured Delhi, the Mogul Emperor, Bahadur Shah II protected by the British at Red Fort of Delhi was announced as the leader. With the recapture of the city Bahadur Shah was sent to Rangoon in Burma, where not only he would die in 1862 of opium addiction as his ancestors but also the Mogul Empire would end in name.

Another consequence of the rebellion was undoubtedly the British domination over the local rulers. Queen Victoria declared herself as the Queen of India in 1872 and controlled the region.

The serious restoration works began in the twentieth century with a British aristocrat namely Viceroy Lord Curzon. His traditional manners were unquestionably the reason of his importance towards Taj Mahal. The restorations of buildings, gardens and the water channels were completed by the talented workmen. Founded by the British, Archeological Survey of India continued its works for caring and maintaining of Taj Mahal even after the independence of India in 1947.

During the conflicts between Pakistan and India in 1965 the site was covered with black fabric in order not to be a target with its pure white appearance. The fabric was kept until 1990s before its completely destruction by mices. Nowadays, the site has been in risk with the densely air pollution caused by the fabrics and traffic. Therefore, serious measures are taken. For instance all vehicles are prohibited except human and animal or electric batteried vehicles within 550 yards.

The site has been amongst the UNESCO World heritage since 1983