On Wednesday November 24, and during a seminar on “The place of clay works in Iranian arts and architecture, coviened by te invitation of Azad University of Dezful, Mr. Habib Asefi, the governor of Dezful, in southern Iran, announced that the old parts of this historic city, covering 200 acres, is being demolished.
Dezful is an ancient city that contains some of the unique and beautiful samples of pre-Islamic and especially Sassanid period of Iranian history. Mr.Nasser Khorrami, the dean of the Azad University, while presenting some of more famous historic sites of the city, including a 1700 years old bridge, water mills, and the Choghamish Hill (where is recognized as the birth place of written texts), told the seminar that if these unique sites would not be preserved, the county would lose some important parts of its historical identity.
The Historical Heritage Organization has announced that it has is no budget for preservation of the old sections of Dezful city and needs the contributions of the private sector. This is parallel to the fact that the same organization has spent large sums of money to repair the mosque and preserve Shiite sites, creating a clear discrimination against pre-Islamic period of the country’s history. Thus, with the lack of any budget to save the historic sections of Dezful, the demise of such historic sites had gain an ever-increasing speed.