TEHRAN – Experts from the Louvre and the University of Tehran have been granted a license to conduct a new round of excavation in the historical town of Faruj, northeastern North Khorasan province.

“Experts from the University of Tehran and the Louvre museum in Paris will conduct a new season of archeological excavation in the ruined city of Faruj with a permit obtained from the Research Institute of Cultural Heritage & Tourism,” Iranian archaeologist Meysam Labbaf-Khaniki said on Wednesday.

“In the new excavation season, field investigation will be done by Iranian archaeologists and research studies will be conducted by French specialists,” Labbaf-Khaniki said, according to the provincial department for cultural heritage and tourism.

“Undoubtedly, preserving archaeological works (relics and sights), exploring and introducing the architectural remains of the area will have effective results to recognize the history and culture of the northeastern region of Iran.”

The first archaeological season on the ruined Faruj came to an end last year conducted jointly by archaeologists and cultural heritage experts from Iran and counterparts affiliated with the Louvre, Labbaf-Khaniki added.

In 2018, Louvre lent art to Tehran for an 'unprecedented' show, which was held at the National Museum of Iran. The show was the first large-scale exhibition by a major Western museum in the country, putting on show some 50 works including 2,400-year-old Egyptian sphinx, a bust of Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius and drawings by Rembrandt and Delacroix and other artifacts linked to Greek, Egyptian and Mesopotamian culture, as well as objects from ancient Iran. In parallel with the Tehran exhibition, the Louvre-Lens presented a vast collection of objects handcrafted by Qajar-era (1785-1925) talented Iranian court from March to July of the same year.

AFM/MG