TEHRAN - Deputy Minister of Cultural Heritage Ali Darabi announced that preparing a comprehensive dossier on the Great Wall of Gorgan is underway, aiming for its potential inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage list.

Speaking at specialized seminar on Capacities of global registration of Great Wall of Gorgan which was held at Taqavi School in Gorgan on Thursday, Darabi said the global registration of a monument is not only a symbolic honor, but is also linked to the effective protection of monuments, the development of tourism, the prosperity of business, and the promotion of international cultural interactions, ILNA reported. 

He said the Great Wall of Gorgan, which was built before the Great Wall of China, is one of the country's unparalleled capacities and can pave the way for attracting billions of dollars in turnover. 

New archaeological excavations will begin for completion of dossier of Great Wall of Gorgan for possible global registration, he said, “Our best effort is to submit it to UNESCO and defend it in the next few years.”

He pointed out that 27 tangible, intangible, and natural heritages are in the World Heritage List queue. 

Darabi also said that Golestan province should turn into a tourism destination, adding that the Cultural Heritage Ministry has compiled a five-year program to promote its three fields, including cultural heritage, tourism, and handicrafts, across 31 Iranian provinces. Golestan, with its natural, historical, and cultural potentials, is in the spotlight, he added.

Since the historic Tower of Gonbad Kavoos is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it not only belongs to Golestan province or Iran, but also belongs to all members of human society, he said. Works that are registered worldwide will be protected from any attack or destruction, by international conventions and protocols, he added.

Ancient great walls are among the most recognizable wonders humans constructed centuries ago.

Of course, the two most well-known are the fabled Great Wall of China and Hadrian’s Wall, which is located in Northern England. The Berlin Wall is a more contemporary example and a reminder of the Cold War between the U.S. and the USSR, as well as the Belfast Peace Wall in Northern Ireland.

Between the Great Wall of China and Hadrian’s Wall, however, was the construction of a second, equally impressive wall in West Asia; the Great Wall of Gorgan.

The Great Wall of Gorgan, between the Caspian Sea and the Alborz Mountains, guarded the Sassanian Empire’s frontiers. It was one of the hardest buildings to take over because of the clay, fired bricks, mortar, and other sturdy building materials that went into its construction.

Although there is some disagreement regarding when it was built, many sources date it to the fifth or sixth century CE.

This would imply that the Sasanian Empire was founded by the great Khosrow I, one of the greatest kings of Persia.

Even though the initial purpose of the wall’s construction is mysterious, many people think it was to defend the northern borders of the Empire against the Hephthalites, also known as the White Huns, with whom the Sassanids had mixed relations.

Except for the Great Wall of China, it completely dwarfed all other similar structures with a length of 195 km.

To put it in perspective, Hadrian’s Wall and Antonine’s Wall don’t even come close to matching Gorgan’s Wall.

But more than just its size, this wall’s structure was remarkable, adding to its impact.

Also known as Red Wall, which in some ancient texts is referred to as the Red Snake, the Great Wall of Gorgan, according to UNESCO, is remarkable not only in terms of its physical scale but even more so in terms of its technical sophistication. To enable construction works, canals had to be dug along the course of the defensive barrier to provide the water needed for brick production. These canals received their water from supplier canals, which bridged the Gorgan River via qanats. One of these, the Sadd-e Garkaz, survives to 700 m in length and 20 m in height but was originally almost one kilometer long.

The Gorgan Wall and its associated ancient military monuments provide a unique testimony to the engineering skills and military organization of the Sassanian Empire. They help to explain its geographic extent, from Mesopotamia to the west of the Indian Subcontinent, and how effective border defense contributed to the Empire’s prosperity in the interior and its longevity. These monuments are, in terms of their scale, historical importance, and sophistication, of global significance.

KD