TEHRAN – Shahid Beheshti Hospital, the first hospital built in the northwestern Zanjan province, will be turned into a health museum, provincial tourism chief has said.

The hospital, which was built in 1937 during the First Pahlavi period (1925-1941), was known as Shahnaz Hospital at the time.

The hospital is being restored in collaboration with Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, and the museum is expected to be inaugurated in the near future, Amir Arjmand said on Sunday, CHTN reported.

Having a health museum can help people to get acquainted with the province’s medical history and difficulties and problems the hospital staff were facing at the time, he added.

Zanjan is one of the cities founded by Sassanid King Ardashir I (180-242 CE). The province makes a base for wider explorations with the architectural wonder of Soltaniyeh, the subterranean delights of the Katale-Khor caves, colorful mountains, and the UNESCO-registered Takht-e Soleiman ruins are nearby.

In late January, Zanjan was designated as a “world city of filigree” by the World Crafts Council after the WCC assessors visited various craft workshops, stores, exhibits, and bazaars of a city in a two-day itinerary in last December.

Filigree consists of curling, twisting, or plaiting fine, pliable metal threads and soldering them at their points of contact with each other with a metal groundwork.

ABU/MG