Conservation and Protection of Taj Mahal as a World Heritage Site

World heritage sites

INTRODUCTION
Heritage sites means the places which posses certain specific characteristics which is established
on the basis of cultural or natural presence. It can be said as a biggest source of travel and
tourism that accumulates large number of tourists in a particular place where these sites are
located. UNESCO list these sites in the category of world heritage sites (Akbar, et.al, 2019). This
report will be on Taj Mahal. It further discuss the issues related to the protection and
conservation of this site. This report also mention the importance of the heritage site and why
they should be preserved. Moreover, it will discuss about the worth these heritage sites holds in
the present modern society. This report also provides some suggestions regarding reducing the
risk towards the heritage sites.
MAIN BODY
The Mughal emperor in India built Taj Mahal in the loving memory of Noor Jahan, wife of the
emperor. It took 23 years to built this palace. It is situated on the banks of Yamuna river in Agra,
Uttar Pradesh. There is the saying that the king has cut the hands of workers who had built the
beautiful palace so that no one could make that again in the world (Suleman and Qayum, 2018).
The thought of creating a concept of world heritage sites was initiated in early 1900s. It is
important to protect these sites from any sort of external or internal harm. UNESCO is said to be
the first organization which derived the idea of conserving these sites in terms of preserving the
beauty and sanctity for coming generations. In order to experience the greatness of the heritage
sites, someone has to think about its conservation. Majority of countries showed their interest in
the convention related to the protection and preservation of the world heritage sites. The
convention was finally established in the year 1972 and got official assent in 1975 where it
became effective. UNESCO has bifurcated the heritage sites on the basis of three categories, that
is cultural, natural and mixed. Cultural sites are those which have got its existence out of some
history, custom, tradition. It includes various historical monuments and buildings. For example-
Ajanta and Elora caves, Agra fort, Archaeological site of Nalanda, etc.
Natural sites are those which is being given by the nature that is already existed and were
maintained by the human beings (Kainthola, Tiwari and Chowdhary, 2021). For example-