CAIS
ARCHAEOLOGICAL & CULTURAL NEWS
| National
Drive to Register Historical Monuments |
03
October 2005
By
Farzaneh Shokri
Head
of Iran’s Cultural Heritage and Tourism
Organization (ICHTO) has called for a national
drive to register more historical monuments in
2006, saying that a total of 13,000 edifices have
been listed since 1985.
Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei, who was speaking in his
first press conference since taking office, added
that the figure will reach more than 20,000 by
next March.
“Since 1930, when the law protecting historical
sites was approved, only 1,307 edifices were
registered up to 1985, “ he said, pointing out
that the experts estimate the number of historical
monuments in the country at over one million.
Rahim-Mashaei said the main responsibility of the
ICHTO is to devise measures to protect historical
monuments. He urged officials concerned to
seriously pursue this.
After outlining his plans of action, he responded
the questions by reporters.
Asked about Jahan-Nama Tower in Isfahan, he said
that the city’s Naqsh-e Jahan Square is an
Islamic historical monument which is registered on
national heritage list.
“If the court considering the case issues a
verdict in favor the city’s Municipality, which
is against lowering the tower’s height, this
will be a catastrophe for cultural heritage
field,“ he observed.
Turning to Sivand Dam project, he said that in a
joint session of ICHTO and Energy Ministry
officials, it was agreed to delay the
commissioning of the dam to give more time for
conducting archeological excavations.
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