TEHRAN – A fire that broke out in the UNESCO site of Abbasabad Garden in the northern province of Mazandaran on Sunday has inflicted no damage to the plant life of the historical site. 

An office building, which was added to the site in 2009, was engulfed in fire, which was prevented from spreading to the main and historical parts of the site, and was contained and successfully extinguished by firefighters, the director of the site Seyyed Rahim Musavi announced on Monday.  

The cause of the fire is under investigation and a full report on the financial loss will be provided soon, the official added. 

Abbasabad Garden is one of the nine gardens registered on UNESCO’s World Heritage List under the title of Persian garden in 2011. 

The Persian garden profile also includes the gardens of Pasargad and Eram in Fars Province, Pahlevanpur and Dowlatabad in Yazd Province, Fin and Chehel Sotun in Isfahan Province, Akbarieh Garden in South Khorasan province, and Shahzadeh Mahan (also known as Shazdeh) in Kerman Province.

These gardens exemplify the diversity of Persian garden designs that evolved and adapted to different climatic conditions while retaining principles that have their roots in the times of the Persian king Cyrus the Great(r. 559–530 BC).

The Persian garden was conceived to symbolize Eden and the four Zoroastrian elements of sky, earth, water, and plants. Water plays an important role in the ornamentation of the gardens.
 
Dating back to different periods, the gardens consist of buildings, pavilions, and walls, as well as having sophisticated irrigation systems. They have influenced the art of garden design as far away as India and Spain.

Stretched along the Caspian Sea and Alborz mountain range, Mazandaran is a popular destination for domestic holidaymakers, while it is home to more than 3500 villages and rural areas.

Having an opulent tourist circuit with 24 UNESCO World Heritage sites, of which the vast Hyrcanian Forest and Lut Desert are among the natural properties, Iran seeks to acquire a greater share of the global tourism industry by 2025.

ABU/AFM