www.chnpress.com Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization (ICHHTO) has shown its opposition to holding any kind of concert in Iranian historical sites, despite the large number of appeals which has been made so far by Iranian and foreign groups.
This is while, during last decade holding classical concerts by famous groups in historical sites has become a cultural activity not only for increasing the dignity and influence of these concerts on audiences due to spiritual atmosphere of historical sites and the positive energy they create, but also in an attempt to introduce the beauty and magnificent of these historical sites to the world and attracting visitors to them. Yanni’s outdoor concert in Acropolis in Greece and Taj Mahal in India are among the most famous concerts which were held in historical sites.
Iran’s Melal (Nation) Orchestra, Vaziri Group, Shams Group, and Zolfonoun Group from Iran and Yanni are those who have requested ICHHTO and Cultural Heritage and Tourism Department of Fars province for holding concerts in Persepolis world heritage site, however none of them have succeeded in getting the permission yet.
Regarding not issuing certificate for holding concert in Iranian historical sites and Persepolis world heritage site, Mohammad Reza Barzegar, director of ICHHTO Fars province base, told CHN: “Due to inconvenience comes afterwards such events and considering the vulnerability of historical sites, we would prefer not to let any concert to be held is historical sites except for special cases. I believe that in order to prevent any harm to historical sites, it would be better to hold concerts in special halls which have been considered for this special purpose.”
Pointing to the high national and international sensitivity towards some of these historical sites such as Persepolis, Barzegar explained: “In addition to some side affects, such programs may pose some serious harm to social, cultural and structure of historical monuments. Besides, in such cases many things may go out of control and it won’t be easy to protect historical monuments against possible damages which may pose due to attendance of a large population in the area during the program.”
Two years ago a concert was held in Persepolis by the Japanese group of Idaki Shin which caused no harm to this magnificent 2500-year-old world heritage site. According to Mohammad Hassan Talebian, head of Parse Pasargadae Research Center, a special place was considered by acoustic experts in Persepolis for this purpose which was not affected by the echoes at all. | 
