Tagh-e-Bostan is a magnificent site of ancient history in the western Iranian plateau. Reza Kamali from Tehran reports that 7 years ago, immediately after the advent of a popular movement to apply for the recognition of the site by the UNESCO as a World Heritage, a series of unexpected operations began to happen in and on the vicinity of this site with the clear aim of its destruction and stopping such recognition.

All sorts of so-called “development projects” were introduce, including the construction of a rail-road and erecting a large dome on a near by religious site that altered the whole scenery of Tagh-e-Bostan eliminating the chances of the site to be recognized as a World heritage.

Keeping the main parts of the site exposed to natural elements was another neglecting policy.

When finally last year the Cultural Heritage Organization declared that it has decided to apply to UNESCO and intends to “prepare” the site for that reason, it turned the whole site into a construction site and brought in machinery and untrained work force – a situation that resembled a mining operation rather than repairing an ancient site. Then the surprising part of the story was the revealed. The Organization declared it never had the intention of sending the Tagh-e-Bostan file to UNESCO.

Immediately all the previous reports and news items relevant to Tagh-e-Bostan was removed from the Internet sites controlled by the government.

The devastation inflicted on Tagh-e-Bostan is so extensive that even if an authority would decide to apply for recognition by the UNESCO, it will not pass the criteria used to select a site for that purpose.