Iran To Celebrate Inscription Of Two Heritage On Unesco

Iran is planning to celebrate the recent inscription of two Persian cultural heritage Friday Mosque (Masjid-e Jameh) and Gonbad-e Qabus tower on UNESCO during a ceremony.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad along with several Iranian officials are to attend the ceremony, said Deputy head of Iranian Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization (ICHTO) for cultural heritage affairs Masoud Alavian Sadr.

The Iranian files along with about 32 other sites, from among 936 places in 153 countries, were reviewed at this year’s meeting of the World Heritage Committee of 22 experts, which was held in St. Petersburg, Russia and eventually voted to be inscribed.

Friday Mosque, the grand and congregational mosque in the Iranian historical city of Isfahan, is one of the oldest mosques (8th century) still standing in Iran.

Also known as Atiq Mosque, the building is the first Islamic structure that adapted the four-courtyard layout of Sassanid palaces to Islamic religious architecture.

Gonbad-e Qabus Tower, which is located in the northeastern Iranian city with the same name, is still the tallest pure baked-brick tower in the world.

The structure is an example of the cultural exchange between Central Asian nomads and the ancient civilization of Iran, and is the only remaining evidence of Jorjan, a former center of arts and science that was destroyed during the Mongols’ invasion in the 14th and 15th centuries.

During its 36th meeting, UNESCO inscribed Iran’s 53-meter tall Gonbad-e Qabus on its World Heritage List as an outstanding and technologically innovative example of Islamic architecture.

The 36th session of the World Heritage Committee was held from June 24 to July 6, 2012 under the chair of Eleonora Mitrofanova, the Ambassador of Russia to UNESCO.

ICHTO plans to provide a particular tour for journalists to pay visit to Friday Mosque and Gonbad-e Qabus, Alavian Sadr noted.

Presstv