Identifying ancient edifices is the most important step toward their documentation.

Over 190 ancient monuments located in the historical province of Isfahan will get a facelift with a credit of almost 27 billion rials specified for the purpose from national funds, IRNA reported.
Speaking to reporters, head of provincial Cultural Heritage and Tourism Department said close to 7.5 billion rials of the sum would be spent on 21 historical edifices which have tourism applications.
Hosseinali Vakil stated that 56 national and provincial projects including mosques, castles, bazaars, mausoleums, old residential buildings, historical complexes and museums would undergo restoration work.
According to the official, over eight billion rials has been set aside for launching nine museums across the province.
He stated that 25 stations benefiting from the services of 100 young cultural heritage guards will be established in the province to help protect ancient edifices.
Vakil said, “These are all in line with the official concern for safeguarding cultural heritage, which we have inherited from our progenitors and should preserve for the posterity.“
The official put the number of provincial cultural heritage NGOs at 61.
He described Naqsh-e Jahan Square encompassing six ancient monuments as the city’s ’gem’.
“Close to 10 billion rials has been set aside to breathe fresh air into the square, the adjacent Imam and Lotfollah mosques as well as Ali Qapu and Hasht Behesht palaces.
According to the official, Chahar Bagh district was listed as the province’s first national heritage about 74 years ago.
“From that time forth, 600 splendid monuments have been registered in the National Heritage List,“ he revealed.
At present, 345 historical edifices are to be listed as national heritage and preliminary arrangements are underway for registration of 286 others.
Vakil believes that identifying ancient edifices is the most important step toward their documentation.
Putting the number of historical monuments picked for registration at 11,240, the official predicted that the figure would reach 15,000.
Vakil outlined identification and documentation of ancient objects as a new obligation for Iran Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization.
“In this line, 10,100 historically significant items have been documented,“ he stated.
The objects include manuscripts, appliances, jewelries and clothing, the official concluded.

Burnt city is located 55 km off Zabol, Sistan-Baluchestan province.

Ninth season of archeological excavations in the Burnt City (Shahr-e Sukhtah), which began recently, is hampered by shortage of facilities.
In an interview with CHN, head of archeological team of the Burnt City complained about lack of access to facilities and equipment essential to studies at the ancient site.
“The team has not been provided with any vehicles. This is while the Burnt City and Dahaneh Gholaman, which are the focus of this season of excavations, are 80 kilometers apart,“ Mansour Sajjadi regretted.
He expanded that huge amounts should be spent on transporting the team’s 30 archeologists and specialists between the two sites, not to mention that 70 workers are also helping the operations.
“Two weeks have passed since the start of operations and the team is still not provided with a single camera,“ the expert exclaimed.
Agonized by the lack of the most necessary equipment and accessories, Sajjadi complained that such an approach toward such an important national archeological site is unacceptable.
He expressed hope that state officials would take swift action to improve the situation.
The Burnt City is located some 55 kilometers off Zabol in the southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan province. Archeologists have been stunned by many trade and intellectual advancements achieved by the people who lived there 5,000 years ago. A team of Iranian archeologists followed up excavations by Italian experts during the post-revolution era. The Iranian team uncovered that the Burnt City had been the international trade nerve center of its period. Despite nine stages of archeological excavations, myriad mysteries have remained unraveled.
Dahaneh Gholaman, once a glorious Achaemenid city, was discovered by Italian archeologists in 1960.

Shahram Nazeri is one of Iran’s most popular singers and a master of Persian classical and Sufi repertoires. He was born into a musical Kurdish family in Kermanshah, western Iran, in 1950. His music career started with the help of his father in childhood.
He joined Sufi ensembles at the age of eight. When he was 11, he sang on Iranian television and started to study the traditional repertoire--or Radif.
He became attracted to the mysteries of Sufism and its music and literature through the works of Molana Jalaleddin Rumi, Sheikh Attar and others. His teachers include some of the most important exponents of Persian music in this century--Abdollah Davami, Nourali Boroumand, Mahmood Karimi, Abdolali Vaziri, Jalal Zolfonoun, Mohammad Reza Shajarian and others.
Since the provinces of Kermanshah and Kurdestan in western Iran are dominated by Sufism, he developed a great interest in this kind of traditional music, mostly accompanied by works of transcendental poets like Rumi. His gentle voice as well as unique style drew the attention of millions of Iranians in a very short time.
He has won many prizes and has sung with leading ensembles of Iran, Sheyda and Aref. His performances in Europe, the Middle East, and North America have been acclaimed for their virtuosity. He has numerous recordings to his credit.
Nazeri has several marvelous works including Gol-e Sad-Barg (The One-Hundred-Leaf Flower), Yadegar-e Doost (Memoir of Friend), Seda-ye Sokhan-e Eshgh (The Sound of Love’s Word), and Shour Angiz (Joyous). For sure, he is one of those at the top of Persian transcendental music.
The noted vocalist will perform concerts in Town Hall, New York on Nov. 20 and also in Toronto, based on poems by the renowned Iranian poet Abolqassem Ferdowsi.
He performed in the quake-devastated city of Bam, Kerman province three months ago.
His programs abroad are to be held upon the request of his son Hafez Nazeri, who is studying music in New York.

Sardar Mofakhkham Edifice in Bojnourd, North Khorasan province The monument is one of the outstanding monuments remaining from the Qajar era (1796-1925). (Photo by IRNA)

A great majority of historic relics traded in the black antiquity market are fake, an expert with Khuzestan Cultural Heritage and Tourism Department warned.
“Close to 80 percent are phony, with only a limited number regarded as genuine,“ Mohsen Hosseini said.
“Antique dealers, who are barely aware of the historic value and specifications of original ancient objects, sustain huge losses during the business.“
Hosseini told ISNA that most of the dealers involved in such illicit transactions are locals.
“The smuggled objects are sold at whatever price the seller demands. The real value of relics, on many occasions, is much higher than the traded price,“ the expert asserted.
He further revealed that provincial police and cultural heritage guards have plans to put an end to the black market transactions, adding the provincial Cultural Heritage Department has set aside a budget specifically for the purpose.

Ancient port city of Siraf, Bushehr province

Siraf International Congress was without doubt a major step toward drawing official attention to the significance of the ancient port city, yet it will certainly not make its mark as far as saving the historic site is concerned.
CHN quoted deputy head of Bushehr Cultural Heritage and Tourism Department, Ali Zakeri, as further saying, “The congress is reminiscent of the importance and status quo of Siraf as a forsaken historic site, but does not ensure deliverance from destruction.“
He went on, “This conference is a warning for the officialdom to take the issue seriously.“
He recalled that 30 jetties had been established in the historic port over the past 30 years to the detriment of destroying at least 10 hectares.
Zakeri insisted that the congress should serve as a starting point for efforts to protect it against further damage.
He expressed deep concern over the current construction projects in the historic city of Siraf (now Taheri Port), calling for immediate action to repel the danger.
“Given the present provincial financial and human resources, it seems impossible to salvage the city. Senior ICHTO officials have pledged financial support for the purpose during their visits to the site over the past two years. However, no credits have yet been disbursed,“ he criticized.
Experts have estimated the minimum credits required for protecting the southern port city of Siraf at 400 billion rials.

The Presence

What a relief! I told him everything that had happened from A to Z. I opened my heart to him and I felt so good afterwards. I’d been feeling down, but now I’m better.
I always take some fruits, sweets and flowers with me when I go to him. Everybody seems to know me there and they circle around me every time I go. The little party of fruits and sweets comes to an end in a jiffy. Then it is just the flowers, he, I, and the endless stories I’ve got to recount to him.
I feel so relieved. I always feel the same when I return home from the cemetery. It’s as if his presence-- even under a pile of soil--fills my soul with consolation.

FBI released a list of the world’s top ten art crimes on Tuesday, asking for public help in tracking down masterpieces by Cezanne, Van Gogh, Leanardo da Vinci and other precious artwork stolen from museums and private collections, AFP reported.
The ten criminal cases, including the theft of thousands of ancient artifacts from Iraq, represent losses of an estimated $600 million, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation said in a statement.
Among the high-profile thefts are Edvard Munch’s “The Scream,“ stolen last year from the museum bearing his name in Oslo, Norway, two Vincent Van Gogh paintings with a combined worth of $30 million stolen in Amsterdam in 2002, Paul Cezanne’s “View of Auvers-su-Oise,“ Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio’s “Nativity“ and Leonardo da Vinci’s “Madonna of the Yarnwinder,“ the FBI said. The list was compiled by a newly formed Art Crime Team at the FBI, usually known for issuing “most wanted“ lists of fugitive bank robbers, mobsters and other criminal suspects in the United States.
Established in November 2004, the Art Crime Team was formed in the aftermath of the theft and looting of thousands of artifacts from Iraqi museums and historic sites since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime.
By posting the thefts on its website, the FBI said it hopes the list will encourage people to write or call with tips and information about the cultural crimes. The art world loses a staggering $6 billion a year due to theft, it said.
The agency also included three paintings on the list that have been recovered, partly with the help of the FBI.
Two paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir and a self-portrait by Rembrandt were stolen from Sweden’s National Museum in Stockholm five years ago. After Stockholm police tracked down one of the Renoir works, police from several countries finally found the missing paintings this year, with the Renoir turning up in Los Angeles and the Rembrandt piece found in Denmark.

A Czech replica of Shakespeare’s Globe theater that opened in 1999 was destroyed last Saturday in a fire, said local fire officials, AFP reported.
While no one was injured in the blaze, “criminal motives are among those being examined,“ said Vit Pernica, a spokesman for Prague firefighters.
The Czech globe theater was only the third of its kind in Europe, after replicas in London and Neuss, Germany.
It was built six years ago in a Prague theme park on the initiative of a group of architects and enthusiasts of the works of English playwright William Shakespeare (1564-1616).
The wooden theater was a faithful reconstruction of the original, open-air playhouse designed in London in 1599.