Iran: Two Sites Approved By World Heritage
The Jameh Mosque in Isfahan and Gonbad-e Qabus Tower in northeastern Iran have been approved as World Heritage sites in the 36th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, which is currently taking place in St. Petersburg.
Mohammad Hossein Talebian, the head of the Parse and Pasargad Foundation and the director of Iran’s World Heritage Registration, presented the report regarding the two Iranian historic sites at the UNESCO session, Radio Zamaneh’s correspondent reports.
The Jameh Mosque is an 8th century mosque in the historical Iranian city of Isfahan. With its various historical layers, Jameh Mosque is representative of Iran’s architectural evolution over various eras.
The Gonbad-e Qabus Tower in Golestan Province was built in 11th century and is the world’s tallest pure baked-brick tower.
With the inclusion of these two sites, Iran now has 15 sites on the World Heritage list.
Iran registered three sites as World Heritage sites in 1979: Persepolis, Isfahan’s Naqsh-e Jahan Square and Chaghaz Nabil Temple. The Iran-Iraq War created a large gap in Iran’s applications to the committee, but in 2003, Iran resumed registering its heritage sites with UNESCO and, except in 2007, all of its applications so far have been approved.
