TEHRAN – Some 6,600 job opportunities in tourism and handicraft sectors were created in western Kermanshah province over the previous Iranian calendar year 1398 (ended on March 19), which shows a 200 percent increase year on year.

Some seven trillion rials (over $166 million at the official rate of 42,000 rials) was also invested in these sectors across the province over the past year, CHTN quoted provincial tourism chief Omid Qaderi as saying on Sunday.

He also noted that a total of 55 tourism-related projects are scheduled to come on stream in different cities of the province on the occasion of the Government Week (August 23-30).

Kermanshah embraces a variety of awe-inspiring historical sites, of which Bisotun and Taq-e Bostan are both on the UNESCO World Heritage list and the Temple of Anahita is also one of the top tourist destinations in the region.

Inscribed into the base of a towering cliff, Taq-e Bostan comprises extraordinary Sassanian bas-reliefs of ancient victorious kings divide opinions. Late afternoon is the best time to visit, as the cliff turns a brilliant orange in the setting sun, which then dies poetically on the far side of the duck pond.

Bisotun is a patchwork of immense yet impressive life-size carvings depicting the king Darius I and several other figures. UNESCO has it that Bisotun bears outstanding testimony to the important interchange of human values on the development of monumental art and writing, reflecting ancient traditions in monumental bas-reliefs.

Temple of Anahita in the city of Kangavar is believed to have been built circa 200 BC. Several column bases and ruins of a wall remain from the magnificent Greek-style temple.

The temple was used during the Parthian era (248 BC-224) as well as the Sassanid era (224-651).

The monument was damaged as it was used for various purposes by the Seljuk, Ilkhanid, Safavid, and Qajar dynasties, which ruled in Iran over the past centuries.

The Temple of Anahita was seriously damaged by an earthquake in 1957. Afterward, people invaded the perimeter of the site, using stones from the temple to rebuild their homes at that location.

ABU/MG