Taj Mahal reopens for first time since COVID-19 pandemic

Sept. 21 (UPI) -- India's Taj Mahal, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, reopened Monday for the first time since March 17.

The monument in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India, which was shut down in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, reopened per district government order with strict guidelines visitors are requested to follow, according to its website.

Among those guidelines, there will be temperature checks at the gate and sanitizers at the entry point.

A maximum of 2,500 people can visit the monument per shift with a maximum of two shifts a day.

Only five people will be allowed in the main mausoleum area and visitors will not be allowed to take any group photos. Tourists will also be provided with shoe covers before they visit the main dome area, which must be dumped in dustbins after they visit the site.

There will be no window ticket sales, but tickets are available online.

The government locker room has also been closed, but luggage can be kept in a private shop.

An ambulance will be at the gates in case of medical emergency.

Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, who was inconsolable after his wife, Mumtaz Mahal, died in 1631 while giving birth to their 14th child, started building the Taj Mahal a year later as a memorial to his wife, and the white marbled mausoleum was completed in 1648. It is listed as one of the Seven Wonders of the World.