One of the world?s most famous monuments, India?s Taj Mahal, celebrates its 350th birthday today with a cultural extravaganza that hopes to pay a fitting tribute to the historic symbol of love. The celebrations, to be held at a famous Mughal fort near the white marble mausoleum, will start with a release of pigeons and a kite-flying contest before a classical music concert at sunset with the Taj as the backdrop.

?This is the start of a six-month celebration aimed at drawing tourists to Agra and the Taj Mahal,? D.K. Burman, a senior government official organising the festivities in the town of Agra, told Reuters. ?Although the Taj gets many visitors, you can?t stop marketing it. It?s like Surf, the detergent, it sells a lot but it doesn?t mean you don?t market it any more.?

Archaeologists also want to open the Taj for night viewing on full moon nights as part of the celebrations, expected to draw millions of visitors to the congested, polluted town of Agra, 200 km south of New Delhi. Coinciding with the celebrations, India?s Supreme Court will hear today a petition by the government of Uttar Pradesh, where Agra is located, seeking the lifting of a ban on allowing visitors to the Taj after sunset. The ban was imposed in 1984 following reports that the monument was a target of militant groups and reinforced in 2000 over concern about preserving the site. But that has in no way reduced the attraction of the Taj, as every day, up to 15,000 people file past the manicured lawns of the imposing structure, built by Emperor Shahjahan as a testament of his love for his wife Mumtaz Mahal, who died in childbirth.

Historians say Shahjahan consulted Middle East and European experts as he planned his legacy, which took 20,000 people over 22 years to build. The Taj Mahal stands on a marble platform surrounded by ornamental gardens. White minarets grace each corner and two smaller red sandstone buildings balance the postcard-perfect image on the banks of Yamuna river.

But the surface of the onion-domed monument became yellow over the years because of car fumes, factories? smoke, an oil refinery near Agra and funeral pyres at a nearby cremation ground. Two years ago, authorities used a pack made of brown clay to restore the original whiteness of the mausoleum. ?Pollution is no longer a problem. But the building is stressed because of the huge number of visitors,? said D. Dayalan, head of the Archaeological Survey of India in Agra.

?Vandalism remains a big threat. The breathing of the visitors can damage the building,? he says. It may be a monument to love, but the Taj has seen its share of tribulations. When war clouds loomed in 2002, Indian officials drew up a plan to camouflage the monument, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, with olive green cloth to stop Pakistani jets from spotting it.

Sugita KATYAL