It is widely believed by the experts and activists that the decisions and actions made by the Iranian government over the last three decades and especially the last eight years have greatly damaged the conditions of the Iranian forests and have put them in danger of destruction.

These actions include the followings:

–          Iranian government has allowed exploration for oil in the Kavir Desert National Park which is a protected National Park and is believed to be the original habitat for the Persian Cheetah.

–          The government has allowed building roads through Cloud Forest. Cloud Forest is one of the most unique forests in Iran.  In the last three decades, deforestation has destroyed the soil in the Iranian forests and created drought.

–           The government has allowed the extraction and exploitation of mines in environmentally protected areas with major and distinct wildlife. This has happened in many cases while the while the individual or people are not under the law entitled or allowed to start a mine.

–          The government has allowed building houses and apartment complexes in many areas of forests that should have been protected.

These decisions have resulted in the gradual destruction of forests, and extinction of animals and plant species in many areas in Iran.

As reported by several news agencies and the National Public Radio (NPR-U.S.), over the last several months, Islamists in Tunisia have attacked almost 40 Sufi shrines and greatly damaged and/or destroyed them.  Previously, Islamists had destroyed several Sufi tombs in the city of Timbuktu in Mali as reported by the New York Times as well as here on WCHV website.  In fact, earlier this year, in February 2013, the U.S. State Department called on Tunisian leaders to implement a plan to protect the country’s religious and historic sites, denouncing a wave of recent attacks on Sufi shrines.

The Sufis are a relatively small sect of Islam that historically, has remained apolitical. They live and have spread over a vast geographic area that stretches from western Africa to South East Asia.  Sufis are best known for their embrace of mysticism and spirit of tolerance and their practices are seen as idolatry to Muslims who practice a more rigid and puritanical form of Islam.

Sufis as a group are not playing leading roles in any of the recent upheavals in the Arab world, but their shrines have become targets of many attacks.  Many Sufis gather at these shrines for prayer and meditation. In Libya last summer, a Sufi grave site in Tripoli was bulldozed, leading to the resignation of Libya’s interior minister.  But periodic attacks have been carried out elsewhere, including Pakistan, where dozens have been killed while visiting shrines as reported by NPR.

If you are a world traveler and have made a list of World Cultural Heritage sites to visit, you have undoubtedly included a visit to the ancient city of Pompeii on that list. However, new concerns for those who love Pompeii and also for Italian government regarding the up-keeping and preservation of Pompeii have risen. Last month, a former restorer of Pompeii, Marcello Fiori was arrested on corruption charges and there are also five other people under investigation.

Italy declared a state of emergency at Pompeii in 2008 putting it under special administration until July 2010 after many historians and archeologists complained about the poor upkeep of the site. The result of the changes was to hire Mr. Fiori and a number of other personnel changes. At that time, The UNESCO mission found many major issues and concerns and concluded that even though a management plan had drawn up, it was not used and rather focusing on the areas of concerns and preservation, funds were diverted to other purposes. Last months, Italian investigators charged Mr. Fiori and the director of restoration, Luigi D’Amora, for awarding irregular contracts to a company called Caccavo which had charged the government and the commission very inflated prices for their work.

In the last five years UNESCO has identified new problems and as it was reported in the Art Newspaper, there are major concerns about lack of maintenance including several areas of deterioration, collapse of columns, inappropriate restoration ­methods and a general lack of qualified staff.” The fact that restoration projects are outsourced and the quality of the work of the contractors is not being assessed is another major concern. In addition, it has been known for a long time that an efficient drainage system is lacking, ­leading to water infiltration and excessive moisture that gradually degrades the structural condition of the buildings as well as their decor.

In 2010, UNESCO sent a mission supervised by Christopher Young, the head of world heritage and international policy at English Heritage.  He was assisted by two Paris-based specialists representing the International Council on Monuments and Sites: Jean-Pierre Adam, a professor at the Ecole du Louvre, and Alix Barbet, the director of research at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. Their report, which has had virtually no international press coverage, was submitted to UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee in Paris in June 2011. It covers Pompeii and the nearby sites of Herculaneum and Torre Annunziata, on the ­outskirts of Naples.

The eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD killed Pompeii’s inhabitants but preserved their buildings. The city was covered with ash, and it was only after its rediscovery in 1748 that excavations began. In 1997, UNESCO designated it a World Heritage Site. Pompeii attracted more than 2.3 million visitors in 2010.

A new settlement that dates back to the Middle Bronze Age in the 3rd millennium BC has been found in Azerbaijan as reported by the Archaeological Expedition of National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan (ANAS).

It has been proposed that there had been a continuous residence in the settlement found in Aghgabirli territory of Kichik Dahna village of Shaki region about 2000 years, from the end of the 3rd millennium BC until the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. The settlement consists of two cultural layers. It shows that the site had been flooded at least twice. However, the site had been relocated for a short period of time. Ceramics, pottery pots, human and animal bones, stone tools, various agricultural tools made from limestone, different types of stone graters and mortars have been found.

The Kasubi Tombs in Kampala, Uganda, is the site of the burial grounds for four kabakas (kings of Buganda), and listed on UNESCO World Heritage Site.  In March 2010, fire destroyed a major part of the buildings. However, earlier this month, a little under two years later, UNESCO signed the Plan of Operation with the Government of Uganda for the project “Technical and financial assistance for the reconstruction of Muzibu-Azaala-Mpanga, architectural masterpiece of the Tombs of Buganda Kings at Kasubi, Uganda, World Heritage property in Danger”.  The project is generously being supported through the Japanese Funds-in-Trust. The project aims to set up an efficient risk prevention scheme at the site, with all necessary equipment and support for the cost of qualified supervision for the reconstruction of the destroyed roof. The proposal was prepared as a result of the missions conducted to the property by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and the experts made available by the Government of Japan through the Japanese Funds-in-Trust for the Preservation of the World Cultural Heritage.   The site which was listed on the World Heritage List in 2001, includes four royal tombs within the Muzibu-Azaala-Mpanga, the main building, which is a masterpiece of Ganda traditional architecture. 

On the first day of the Iranian New Year, as it has become customary over the last few years, thousands of Iranian people gathered at the tomb of Cyrus. This year in an act of vandalism, one suspect (or persons) threw a hand grenade into the Tomb.  This vicious act structurally damaged the 2500 years old tomb, which is one of the world’s unique Cultural Heritage sites.

Unfortunately, the police officers on site and in the vicinity did not respond to the incident.

For several years, Iran’s historical and cultural heritage dated before Islam has suffered negligence by the Iranian Islamic government.

Another location is Pasargadae, a unique complex of historical and archeological sites in danger of destruction.

Earlier this month President Hollande of France visited cultural heritage sites in northern Mali including the mausoleums of Timbuktu and the city’s fabulous collection of manuscripts to launch the process of reconstruction and safeguarding of Mali sites.  The visit also included a tour of the Ahmed Baba research center, where some 40,000 of the manuscripts are stored. It is estimated that over 2000 of the manuscripts were burnt by the Islamist militants before the French troops freed the city.  An estimated 300,000 manuscripts are kept in private and public collections in Timbuktu. Many of them date from the 13th to 16th centuries and were produced by great scholars from the city and elsewhere or came from the ancient markets of North Africa, and the eastern-most countries of the Arab region.  The director-general of UNESCO accompanied President Hollande and promised a full mobilization of resources to ensure assistance by UNESCO.

A large donation of over two hundred and fifty five rare maps of Persia and publications were donated to the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, by an internationally well known scholar, Dr. Cyrus Ala’i.  The donation, which will be referred to as ‘Dr Cyrus Ala’i’s Map Collection of Persia’, will be managed by the Archives & Special Collections section of the SOAS library.  The donation was formally received by Professor Paul Webley, Director of SOAS, Dr Hassan Hakimian, Director of the London Middle East Institute and Dr Arshin Adib-Moghaddam, Chair of the Centre for Iranian Studies at a private ceremony on Thursday 31 January 2013. A public event to celebrate the donation will be announced later in the year.

SOAS, University of London (The School of Oriental and African Studies) is the only Higher Education institution in Europe specialising in the study of Asia, Africa and the Near and Middle East.  SOAS is a remarkable institution. Uniquely combining language scholarship, disciplinary expertise and regional focus, it has the largest concentration in Europe of academic staff concerned with Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

CYRUS ALAI was born in Iran and received his PhD degree (Dr.-Ing.) from ‘Technische Universität, Berlin-Charlottenburg’. He completed the ‘Executive Controls Program’ – a management course – at the University of Syracuse, USA, and lectured at the University of Teheran for eight years. Dr. Alai founded a group of engineering companies in Iran, which he directed for twenty years. He settled later in England, working as a consulting engineer and studying history of cartography in his free time. He served nine years as the honorary treasurer of the International Map Collector’s Society (IMCoS), and wrote numerous articles and gave many lectures (including one at SOAS on 8^th NOV 2006 at the Khalili Lecture Room. organised by SOAS and Iran Heritage) on ‘the cartography of Persia’ and ‘the traditional cartography of classical Islamic societies’. His articles (in English and Persian) appeared in several prestigious cartographic and cultural periodicals, such as:  Map Collector, IMCoS Journal, Mercator’s World, Portolan, Journal of the Iran Society, Iranshenasi (Persian), Rahavard, etc. The entry ‘Geography iv, Cartography of Persia’ in the Encyclopaedia Iranica, has been written by him. He also collected old maps of Persia and owns perhaps the largest personal collection of such maps. Dr. Alai recognised that Persia has been mapped extensively for centuries but the absence of a good map-history and carto-bibliography has often deterred scholars from making use of such maps. Therefore, he embarked on a lengthy (about 20 years) investigation into the old maps of Persia and visited major map collections and libraries in many countries. As a result, he produced a monumental work in two volumes: General Maps of Persia, 1477-1925 appeared in 2005, and Special Maps of Persia in 2010, both published by BRILL in Leiden, The Netherlands.

Publisher’s Commentary

Iran, or Persia as it was known in the West for most of its long history, has been mapped extensively for centuries but the absence of a good cartobibliography has often deterred scholars of its history and geography from making use of the many detailed maps that were produced. This is now available, prepared by Cyrus Alai who embarked on a lengthy investigation into the old maps of Persia, and visited major map collections and libraries in many countries.  With over four hundred separate map entries and over two hundred illustrations this work covers all the important printed general maps of Persia from the early editions of Ptolemy at the end of the 15^th century until 1925 when the Qajar dynasty was overthrown. Useful historical accounts provide the background to this wealth of cartographic achievement. After a description of the many editions of Ptolemy, later maps are divided into groups according to the country where they were produced: Italy, the Low Countries, France, Germany, Great Britain, Russia, America, Persia, Turkey, and Spain with Portugal. This permits the work of a single cartographer to be handled in an uninterrupted sequence, thus aiding quick reference to a particular style of map, and its later offshoots.

At the end of each major entry, further details concerning different editions and variations, other related maps, historical notes and unique or important features are provided, thus fitting the map into its chronological background. The large number of indexes at the end of the book should enable map collectors, dealers and librarians to identify any map of Persia with ease.

This book is a good balance between history and geography, and will appeal to a wide range of readers. Many Persian maps have surely been rescued from obscurity, and it is now possible to study sequence of developing geographical knowledge over a historically and economically important part of Asia. It is unlikely to be superseded for a very long time.

“Battir” seeks World Heritage Recognition

A small village in the West Bank which contains ancient Roman ruins including Roman irrigation system is the subject of one of the recent requests to the UNESCO.  The Palestinian authority has sent a formal request to the UNESCO following the World Heritage listing of the Church of Nativity in June 2012 for the Battir village to be recognized and listed as a World Heritage site.  Even though the village is in the Palestinian West Bank, the slopes across from Battir are in Israel and Israel has been planning to build a security wall which will cut through the village and therefore has caused major concerns for the many families and farmers living in the village who rely on small farming along the ancient roman terraces.

For more info: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/26/world/middleeast/palestinian-village-tries-to-protect-landmark.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/11/israel-palestinians-battir-separation-wall