Susa and Meymand inscribed to the UNESCO World Heritage List

Iran’s UNESCO World Heritage reaches to 19

Iran’s historical sites Susa and Meymand have been finally inscribed to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) Prestigious World Heritage List.

The ancient city of Susa and the Cultural Landscape of Meymand cave village have been inscribed on 28 June 2015 to the UNESCO World Heritage List at the 39th session of the World Heritage Committee.

Susa by covering about 350 hectares, constitutes one of the world‘s largest archaeological sites is located in the south-west of Iran, in the lower Zagros Mountains; the property encompasses a group of archaeological mounds rising on the eastern side of the Shavur River, as well as Ardeshir’s palace, on the opposite bank of the river. According to the excavations and the conducted reviews as the artifacts, buildings and objects this city belongs to the different eras and historical periods with the most notably are back to the Elamite, Persian and Parthian cultural traditions; which unfortunately mostly are gone.

Meymand is a self-contained, semi-arid area – located in the south-eastern Iranian province of Kerman. Meymand village has been continuously inhabited for 2,000 to 3,000 years making it one of Iran’s four oldest surviving villages. During the winter months they live lower down the valley in cave dwellings carved out of the soft rock (kamar), an unusual form of housing in a dry, desert environment. This cultural landscape is an example of a system that appears to have been more widespread in the past and involves the movement of people rather than animals.

There are currently a lot of Iranian historic sites registered in UNESCO’s list of World Heritage including Armenian Monastic Ensembles of Iran , Bam and its Cultural Landscape, Bisotun, Cultural Landscape of Maymand, Golestan Palace, Gonbad-e Qabus, Masjed-e Jāmé of Isfahan, Naghshe Jahan Square, Pasargadae, Persepolis, Shahr-e Sukhteh, Sheikh Safi al-din Khanegah and Shrine Ensemble in Ardabil, Shushtar Historical Hydraulic System, Soltaniyeh, Susa, Tabriz Historic Bazaar Complex, Takht-e Soleyman , Chogha Zanbil and The Persian Garden.