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Khansar Land of Inverted Tulips
Khansar in northwest Isfahan province is located about 150 kilometers from the city of Isfahan. The name Khansar comes from the Avestan language. Khun means spring and sar means place, so khansar means place of the spring.
Its geographical location is 33¼13’ north latitude and 50¼19’ east longitude while its altitude is 2,250 meters above the sea level.
According to Isfahanportal.ir, it’s area is 900 kmÃ, and it includes 18 towns, 3 villages and one central city. This city is located to the northwest of Esfahan, to the east is Golpayegan, and to the southwest it is within the limits of Faridan. It is situated on both sides of a narrow valley through which the Khansar River, some 4 meters wide at this point, flows in a north-easterly direction to Qom. The town and its gardens and orchards straggle some 10 km along the valley which has a mean breadth of scarcely 1 kilometer.
Khansar is a small county with a population of about 40,000. It is situated in a green valley. Snowy in winter and mild in summer, it enjoys many natural sights. It also is a religious city and has good weather.
The city has diverse flora, the most important being the inverted tulip. Average maximum temperature of Khansar during summer is 31¼ centigrade and the average minimum on summer nights is 24¼ centigrade.
Attractions
The most important places worth seeing in this city are hot springs and mineral waters in Golestan Kooh, Sarcheshmeh park, Cheshmeh (Spring) Omid, east of Khansar, the Zoroastrian temple in Tir Kooh, Baba Pir , Baba Mohamed Castle, Shahzadeh Ahmad, Jame Mosque, House of Abharis and Mariam Beygom School in Khansar city.
An attraction of Khansar is Golestan Kouh (literally ’flower mountain’) which is very pleasant in May when the area is covered by inverted tulips. Golestan Kouh is located on the Khansar-Isfahan road some 15 kilometers from Khansar. Hiking and skiing in the nearby mountains is very popular.
Another place of interest is Sarcheshmeh Park with beautiful mountain springs. Many tourists visit the area each year.
Khansar is also among the cities with a long history. Religious sites in the city include Shazdeh Ahmad and Emamzadeh Seyyed Saleh. It has many districts such as Vadasht, Payehtakht, Bidhend, Sonqan and Chaharbagh.
Khansar is located not far from the Iran’s Central Kavir (desert). It is surrounded by the Zagros Mountain range which is the source of Anarbar River (Qom River).
History
The city’s heyday dates back to the Safavid reign (1501-1722/1736 AD) when Isfahan was the capital of Iran. It is famous for carpet-weaving and other handicrafts. Carpet weaving was very popular in Khansar during the Safavid era when Persian art reached its zenith in Isfahan. Other handicrafts of the city include pottery, textile and dye industry.
The city’s fabric industry produces high quality cloth. The inlaid works of Khansar Grand Mosque is exemplary.
Khansar has been a scientific and educational center since the time of the Safavid dynasty and many great Shi’ite scholars were educated there. It has been a centre for training thinkers, poets, and especially theologians for centuries.
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Rose Festival in Oskou
Mohammadi roses (Rosa damasena) grow in Gonbarf region in Oskou due to favorable climatic conditions, said governor of Oskou in East Azarbaijan province.
Ali Birami, who was addressing the Second Festival of Mohammadi Roses, recalled that the festival aims to promote tourism at the regional level.
“Another objective of the festival is to help generate jobs for the people of the region. In fact, Oskou has become one of the tourist attractions of East Azarbaijan province due to abundant beautiful natural attractions and historical edifices,“ he noted.
According to Persian daily ’Iran’, the official referred to the historical village of Kandovan, Rahmanloo Port and the picturesque slopes of Sahand Range as the main regions frequented by tourists to Oskou every year.
Birami said that the tourism industry is the backbone of development of the region. “Related officials have come to terms with the positive effect of investments on tourism infrastructures of the region,“ he noted.
Meanwhile, deputy head of East Azarbaijan’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Department, Nooroddin Pour-Mussa Qoli said at the same event that 19 exemplary tourism sites of the province have been identified and introduced to the private sector for investments.
“Since the festival was also received enthusiastically last year, Gonbarf has been designated as the 20th exemplary tourism site of the province,“ he added.
An expert in horticulture, Somayyeh Sadeqi said, “The area under cultivation for Mohammadi roses in Gonbarf has reached 530 hectares from 100 hectares five years ago.“
She recalled that Gonbarf is the top region of province in the production of Mohammadi roses. “Studies conducted so far have shown that Mohammadi roses of Gonbarf have the highest quality in Iran,“ she added.
She concluded that Sahand slopes are the most suitable for cultivating Mohammadi roses because of cold nights and mild days.
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World Heritage Certificate for Bam
A ceremony to present the UNESCO World Heritage Certificate to Bam was held in the city on Monday.
The ceremony is the second of eight ceremonies to award certificates to the eight Iranian World Heritage sites, IRNA quoted the UN Information Center as saying.
The other certificates will be given to Isfahan, Soltanieh, Takht-e Suleiman, Choghazanbil, Persepolis and Pasargade before December 2008.
On July 1, the UNESCO World Heritage Certificate for Bisotun was handed over in Kermanshah.
Bam and its cultural landscape, including the world famous Arg-e Bam (Bam Citadel), were registered on the World Heritage List by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in 2004. The city was simultaneously placed on the List of World Heritage in Danger, considering the conservation challenges facing the property in the aftermath of the tragic December 2003 earthquake in Bam.
The world heritage status is justified because the city was situated on the crossroads of important trade routes in southern Iran.
Bam and its cultural landscape represent an exceptional testimony to the development of a trading settlement in the desert environment of Central Asia. The city of Bam represents an outstanding example of a fortified settlement based on the use of mud layer technique (chineh) combined with mud-bricks (Khesht). Its cultural landscape is an outstanding representation of the interaction of man and nature in a desert environment, using the aqueducts (qanats).
The World Heritage Certificate is handed over to governments responsible for the protection and conservation of nominated World Heritage sites.
As a property inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee annually examines the state of conservation report submitted by the Iranian government.
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Forest Management
Head of Iran Forest and Rangelands Organization, Mahmoud Sarabi told Iscanews that the management of about 2,200 hectares of forest parks out of 34,000 hectares under the control of the organization in the north of Iran has been transferred to the private sector.
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Wells to Protect Buried City
Cultural heritage experts of Nooshabad Municipality have promised that three wells will be dug within one month in the buried city of Nooshabad, near Kashan, Isfahan province to prevent the flow of wastewater into the historic site.
Announcing this, Hamid Reza Ansarifard, who is the head of the Society of Friends of Nooshabad’s Cultural Heritage, further told ISNA that following the allocation of funds to Nooshabad Municipality and end of preliminary studies in the buried city, a private contractor has been selected to dig the wells.“
Commenting on the state of Nooshabad’s Anthropology Museum following the collapse of its ceiling, he said, “Operations to repair the museum have already begun. Currently, the roof of the museum is being repaired and reinforced. The ceiling of the museum, which was destroyed by heavy snowfall last winter, will be repaired with construction materials supplied from Kashan’s Cultural Heritage Office and funds provided by Nooshabad Municipality.“
Lar Nat’l Park Endangered
Lar National Park, located at the foot hills of Mount Damavand, is facing a crisis because of the large influx of cattle.
Announcing this, Mohammad Baqer Sadouq, provincial director general of the Department of Environment, told ISNA that despite signs in the region warning shepherds against grazing their cattle in the park, 120,000 head of cattle entered the area this year.
“The park’s capacity is maximum 45,000. Hence, it is facing a crisis due to the large number of animals that destroy the plant coverage and fields,“ he said.
“The severe drought and food shortage have pushes the animals toward the park.“
Sadouq noted that Lar Dam in the region is one of the main sources of water for Tehran city. Lar National Park has been registered as a protected area since 1982.
The park’s flora and fauna boasts of wild poppy, herbal drugs, different species of birds such as eagles and partridges, as well as endangered animals like leopards, wolves, foxes and boars.
The park also hosts several types of amphibians such as frogs and different kinds of snakes.
3 Churches on Global List
Three of Iran’s Armenian churches have been registered as the country’s ninth site on the World Heritage List.
Three Armenian churches in West Azarbaijan province--Qare Kelisa (Saint Thaddeus Monastery) and Chapel of Zurzur in Khoy as well as Saint Stepanos Church in Jolfa, east Azarbaijan province--were registered during the 32nd session of the World Heritage Committee in Quebec, Canada, Presstv reported.
These structures--the oldest of which, St Thaddeus, dates back to the 7th century--manifest the universal value of Armenian architectural and decorative traditions.
The committee voted to register the structures for their important interaction with other regional cultures, particularly the Byzantine, Orthodox and Persian.
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