TEHRAN- A total of 21 historical sites across the northwestern West Azarbaijan province are being demarcated by teams of archaeologists and cultural heritage experts, a provincial tourism chief has said.

The demarcation projects aim at protecting the historical sites, mostly historical hills, from illegal constructions within their boundaries as well as preserving their originality, CHTN quoted Hassan Sepehrfar as saying on Monday.

He also noted that satellite images from the 1960s have been studied and compared by the teams of archaeologists to identify the current condition of the sites to determine the causes and extent of the damages.

West Azarbaijan embraces a variety of lush natural sceneries, cultural heritage sites, and museums including the UNESCO sites of Takht-e Soleyman and Qareh Klise (St. Thaddeus Monastery), Teppe Hasanlu and the ruined Bastam Citadel.

The region was a center of several ancient civilizations. According to Britannica, it was conquered by Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC and was named Atropatene after one of Alexander’s generals, Atropates, who established a small kingdom there. Ultimately, the area returned to the Persian (Iranian) rule under the Sasanians in the 3rd century CE.
ABU/MG