TEHRAN – Iran’s deputy minister of cultural heritage and tourism has said that the historical texture of Khusf, which was once situated on the ancient Silk Road, is capable of becoming a UNESCO World Heritage site.

“The historical texture of Khusf is a noteworthy property, and it is capable of being registered as a World Heritage site,” Mohammad-Hassan Talebian said on Thursday.

The official made the remarks during a visit to Khusf that is an oasis town on the east side of the country in South Khorasan province, during which he inaugurated an eco-lodge center embedded within a fully-restored historical house.

“We should assist such historical houses to be revived in this historical texture, as these restorations would help develop both the local economy and the realms of culture and tourism,” the official said.

South Khorasan is an explorer’s delight – lots to discover yet barely another visitor to be found, even at the most important sights (despite a decent infrastructure of recently paved roads).

The region intersperses arid mountains and semi-deserts and is famed for saffron and barberries. But there’s also has a wealth of old mud villages that seem to have been left almost complete as though to tempt archaeologists.

Over the past couple of years, hundreds of historical sites and monuments across Iran have been temporarily ceded to the private sector through auctions reportedly to gain higher productivity and better maintenance.

Currently, there are over 40 countries alongside the historic land and maritime routes, which are collectively named the Silk Road, (or Silk Roads). This vast network carried more than just merchandise and precious commodities however: the constant movement and mixing of populations also brought about the transmission of knowledge, ideas, cultures, and beliefs, which had a profound impact on the history and civilizations of the Eurasian peoples.

Experts say that travelers along the Silk Road were attracted not only by trade but also by the intellectual and cultural exchange that was taking place in cities along the Silk Road, many of which developed into hubs of culture and learning. Science, arts, and literature, as well as crafts and technologies, were thus shared and disseminated into societies along the lengths of these routes, and in this way, languages, religions, and cultures developed and influenced each other.

For thousands of years, the ancient Silk Road passed through many different empires, kingdoms, reigns, and societies. According to UNESCO, the Silk Road enriched the countries it passed through, transporting cultures, religions, languages, and of course material goods into societies across Europe, Asia, and Africa, and uniting them all with a common thread of cultural heritage and plural identities.

AFM