TEHRAN – Yazd Governor-General Mohammadreza Babaei said on Thursday that preserving the historic fabric of the UNESCO-listed city of Yazd would be pursued alongside “identity-based economic development” and sustainable tourism initiatives.

In a message marking the anniversary of Yazd's inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage list, Babaei said the provincial administration was committed to protecting the historic district while using tourism and local cultural assets to support economic activity, Mehr news agency reported.

The anniversary is observed on the 18th day of the Iranian month of Tir, which commemorates the inclusion of Yazd's historic core on the World Heritage List.

Babaei said the recognition represented international acknowledgment of the city's architectural and cultural heritage, including its windcatchers, qanat water system, mosques, minarets and earthen urban fabric.

"Preserving this valuable historic fabric, alongside a smart move toward an identity-based economy, the expansion of sustainable tourism, and the use of the capacities of experts for the revitalization of urban authenticity, is the path that the provincial administration is pursuing seriously," he said.

He added that the province had a responsibility to pass the heritage to future generations while maintaining its authenticity and vitality.

The governor also thanked cultural heritage, handicrafts and tourism professionals, non-governmental organizations, researchers, architects and local residents for their role in safeguarding the site.

Historic City of Yazd is located in the center of the Iranian plateau, about 270 km southeast of Isfahan, near historic trade routes linking the Silk and Spice Roads.

UNESCO says the city demonstrates how communities adapted to desert conditions through the use of limited resources, particularly the qanat system that channels underground water to urban areas. The organization says Yazd has retained traditional districts, qanats, houses, bazaars, bathhouses, mosques, synagogues, Zoroastrian temples and the historic Dolat-abad Garden, avoiding the extensive modernization that altered many other earthen cities.

Yazd is sometimes referred to as a living testimony to the intelligent use of limited available resources in the desert for survival. Water is brought to the city by the qanat system. Each district of the city is built on a qanat and has a communal center. Furthermore, the use of earth in buildings includes walls and roofs through the construction of vaults and domes. Houses are built with courtyards below ground level, serving underground areas. Wind-catchers, courtyards, and thick earthen walls create a pleasant microclimate.

Moreover, the oasis city is home to numerous qanats which have supplied water to agricultural and permanent settlements for thousands of years. The man-carved underground qanat system relies on snow-fed streams flowing down the foothills of surrounding mountains. The earliest water supply to Yazd is estimated to date from the Sassanid era (224 to 651 CE). However, many others have been continually repaired and used over time, and most surviving Ab-Anbars (traditional mudbrick cisterns) can today be traced to the late Safavid and Qajar periods.

AM