The World Heritage List encompasses more than 900 locations around the globe that are rated as contributing significantly to the world’s heritage and that are deserving of preservation.
One site in Iran is the giant square in Esfahan. UNESCO officials have complained for years about construction of a tall tower that will loom over the square and have threatened to suspend the site from the list if it is built.
UNESCO may take action on that issue later this week as it annual meeting continues.
The meeting is considering 30 sites this year for addition to the World Heritage List. On Tuesday, it decided to add the Persian Garden as a generic element, citing nine specific Persian gardens scattered across nine provinces.
UNESCO said the nine sites “exemplify the diversity of Persian garden designs that evolved and adapted to different climate conditions while retaining principles that have their roots in the times of Cyrus the Great, 6th century BC.”
UNESCO described the concept of the Persian garden this way: “Always divided into four sectors, with water playing an important role for both irrigation and ornamentation, the Persian garden was conceived to symbolize Eden and the four Zoroastrian elements of sky, earth, water and plants. These gardens, dating back to different periods since the 6th century BC, also feature buildings, pavilions and walls, as well as sophisticated irrigation systems. They have influenced the art of garden design as far as India and Spain.”
Last year, UNESCO added two sites in the far northwest of Iran: the Tabriz Bazaar, one of the major stops on the silk road; and the mausoleum in Ardebil, which was built early in the 14th Century, but had many additions made over the next 300 years and has always been a spiritual retreat for Sufis.