|
www.tehrantimes.com For the first time since the UNESCO World Heritage Committee was formed in 1972, its annual conference will be held in sub-Saharan Africa this year, where it will make the final decision on the registration of new sites on its World Heritage List, including Iran’s Soltanieh Dome.
Seven hundred delegates from 180 countries are expected to attend the committee's 29th session at the Durban International Convention Center from July 10 to 17.
Policy and funding matters will also be discussed at the meeting. South Africa has six sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List. A seventh site and extensions to existing ones will be proposed at the Durban conference.
An expert of the International Department of Iran’s Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization (CHTO) said on Saturday that he believes Soltanieh will definitely be added to the list based on reports about it submitted by experts of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS).
Abdorrasul Vatandust added that UNESCO Deputy Director General for Culture Muniro Bushnakito, who visited Iran in February, is confident that Soltanieh will be registered on the UNESCO list.
The Soltanieh Dome is the tallest brick edifice in the Islamic world and is a stunning example of the art and culture of Iran. The mausoleum of Sultan Mohammad Khodabandeh Oljeitu, known as the Soltanieh Dome, is located in the southeastern section of the city of Soltanieh, which is near Zanjan in northwestern Iran.
Although Iranian and foreign experts are optimistic about the registration of Soltanieh on the UNESCO list, they also believe that Isfahan’s Naqsh-e Jahan Square will probably be added to the UNESCO List of World Heritage in Danger, since the calls for modification of the controversial Jahan-Nama Tower, which is located west of Naqsh-e Jahan Square, have been rejected.
The ambassador and permanent delegate of the Islamic Republic Iran to UNESCO, Ahmad Jalali, stated that the committee has announced that it is prepared to make its final decision about the square.
The last chance to modify the Jahan-Nama Tower is approaching, and Iran has not taken any serious steps, he added.
In this years’ committee, reports on the current status of world heritage at risk such as Buddha statues in Afghanistan and the Bam Cultural Landscape of Iran, which both were registered on the World Heritage List and the List of World Heritage in Danger, will also be reviewed.
The World Heritage Committee is established within the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. It is composed of 21 States Parties to the Convention, elected by States Parties to the Convention meeting in general assembly during the ordinary session of the General Conference of UNESCO.
The 1972 UNESCO Convention on World Heritage started with the agenda on the preservation of immovable cultural property, such as buildings and monuments, and of natural sites, such as geological formations and the habitats of endangered species of animals and plants. This convention has received wide international support, as it does not impose particularly onerous obligations on participating countries. | 
