The deputy director of the Renovation and Protection Office of the Isfahan Cultural Heritage and Tourism Department announced on Saturday that the emergency exits will be installed at the current locations of the water fountains.

Ali Khajuii said that Isfahan Province cultural officials warned that the emergency exits would damage the Safavid era fountains.

The water fountains are located one-meter below ground level. Streams beginning in the Upper Chahar-Bagh neighborhood head toward the Chahar-Bagh Abbasi fountains. The destruction of the Upper Chahar-Bagh fountains would therefore also damage the Abbasi Chahar-Bagh fountains, he added.

The latest Isfahan Metro maps indicate that the metro trains will also pass under the historical Naqsh-e Jahan Square.

Experts believe that the historical monuments of the square will be threatened by the vibrations caused by metro trains passing under the neighborhood.

At the 29th Session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee held in Durban, South Africa last July, committee members asked the government of Iran to make efforts to register the historical and cultural neighborhood around Naqsh-e Jahan Square on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The neighborhood includes the Friday Mosque, Chahar-Bagh Abbasi St., the Upper Chahar-Bagh neighborhood, the Khaju Bridge, and the Si-o-Se Pol Bridge.