UNESCO welcomes IRNA's proposal on Int'l Persepolis Day

Shiraz, Dec 16, IRNA - Head of regional office of UNESCO in Tehran here Monday welcomed IRNA reporter's proposal for nomination of December 15th as International Persepolis Day.

Han Chan Lee added in his interview with IRNA's Niknam Khoshnoudi,
"UNESCO is ready to register this proposal upon receiving an official
request on the part of the Iranian concerned officials." He added, "Of
course we have over 800 historical monuments that have been registered
internationally and definitely we cannot allocate a day in the
calendar for each one of them, but due to the exceptional significance
of the Persepolis Palace Complex as a unique historic site, Iran
enjoys the right to propose a certain day in the year for this complex
and the entire other internationally acknowledged sites in Iran."
The head of UNESCO's regional office in Tehran further noted, "The
fact that Persepolis, as an ancient heritage of the mankind, still
lacks a day nominated after it is a pity and such a move can attract
the attention of the world nations towards this great monument." The
Persepolis Palace Complex, better known in Iran as Takht-e-Jamshid, is
comprised of the remainder of a number of palaces and their
surrounding areas, built during the Achaemenian Dynasty kings of
ancient Persia over 2,500 years ago on the outskirts of Rahmat
Mountain 60 kilometers to the south of Shiraz, the capital city of
Iran's Fars Province today.

According to historic texts, the main cause for major damages
inflicted against the beautiful palaces in this complex is an arson
initiated by Alexander from ancient Greece, who had at the time
occupied Iran and envied the magnificence of the Persian palaces
culture that were far greater than his own country's imperial courts.

The Persepolis Palace Complex was initially registered in the year
1979 in the list of the International Cultural Works List of the
UNESCO and is currently among the nine top works in that list.

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