TEHRAN (CHN) -- With launching of Iran’s Rural Desert Museum in Kerman, Bushehr’s Open Museum, and Nomadic Ecomuseum, Iran is about to expand its ecomuseums in southern and central parts of the country.

According to Masud Nosrati, director of the museum department of Iran’s Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization (CHTO), launching professional ecomuseums in different parts of the country is one of the main projects of the Organization to promote cultural interactions among different Iranian provinces and to introduce natural diversity of the country.

“Ecomuseums are considered as cultural venues to introduce and display people’s heritage. Our successful experience in launching Saravan’s ecomuseum in Gilan as the first ecomuseum in Iran proved to us how greatly such museums are welcomed by the people. Therefore, we decided to expand the project and establish more ecomuseums in different parts of the country,” said Nosrati.

Nosrati also explained that the project is also intending to show how the architectural style of central Iran was influenced by that of Mazandaran province in northern Iran which was later spread to the southern parts of the country as well as the use of wood can be seen in some architectural constructions in southern Iran. This will be displayed in Bushehr’s Open Museum once the project is approved. The new museum will be named Persian Gulf Ecomuseum.

Regarding the establishment of a rural desert ecomuseum, Nosrati noted that this museum would be launched in an abandoned village.

“After the village is chosen, it will be restored to its original form,” added Nosrati.

The rural desert museum will be launched near the city of Kerman by the Cultural Heritage and Tourism Department of Kerman province under the supervision of CHTO’s Museum Department.

Currently, some vacant villages have been proposed for this purpose and experts are studying them choose one that goes best with the objectives of this program. After restoring the rural houses according to their original texture by using natural materials, some parts of the village will be allocated to the museum and some lodgings will be constructed in it for the settlement of tourists.

According to Nosrati, a nomadic ecomuseum will also be opened in central Iran; however, he said that the details of this project will be announced later.

Ecomuseum or open museum is a museum focused on the identity of a place, largely based on local participation and traditional architectural style of the region and aiming to enhance local communities’ welfare and development.

The word ecomuseum comes from two Greek words: oikos meaning house or whole (the cultural historical adaptation to natural conditions and to the surrounding society), and museion meaning a collection of objects (of scientific or cultural interest). An ecomuseum is in particular concerned with the presentation on the spot where natural historical and cultural historical subjects happen or happened in the past.

According to the declaration of Intent of the Long Net Workshop of Trento, Italy, ecomuseum is a dynamic way in which communities preserve, interpret, and manage their heritage for a sustainable development.

There are presently about 300 operating ecomuseums in the world, about 200 are in Europe, mainly in France and Italy. Kalyna Country Ecomuseum with having a 20,000 square kilometer natural heritage tourism region in the picturesque parkland area of east central Alberta, Canada is considered the largest ecomuseum of the world.

The idea of an ecomuseum originated in France in 1971. It was a revolutionary departure from the traditional concept of museums where collections are kept in a building waiting for experts to study and visitors to view. An eco-museum is more than that. Community in itself is considered something to preserve, making everyone responsible for taking care of the cultural heritage.

Construction of the first open museum or rural heritage museum was performed in Saravan Forest in Gilan Province, northern Iran.