The marble first turned yellow, and then brown and green, the result of pollution despite a government move to close down thousands of factories located near the Taj Mahal.
India’s Taj Mahal is changing colour – and finding a solution that will restore its white marble is proving tricky.
The marble first turned yellow, and then brown and green, the result of pollution despite a government move to close down thousands of factories located near the Taj Mahal.
Insect dung is also being blamed for the deteriorating condition of the building.
The BBC reports India's Supreme Court has instructed the government to seek foreign help to fix the problem.
Justices Madan Lokur and Deepak Gupta examined photographs of the palace submitted by environmentalists and ordered the government to seek expertise from inside India and abroad.
"Even if you have the expertise, you are not utilising it. Or perhaps you don't care," court justices said.
The Taj Mahal was built by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in the city of Agra and is one of the world's most visited tourist attractions, drawing as many as 70,000 people every day.