Millions Needed for Iranian Archeological Sites

Date

March 21, 2007

Category

Heritage | History | Iran

$3M. Budget Requested for Iran’s Archeological Salvation Projects

Archeologists studying remains of a palace denoted to Achaemenid king Darius the Great, at Bolaghi Gorge Archeology Research Center of Iran’s Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization has demanded the Iranian Cabinet Ministers to allocate a 3 million US Dollar budget to the Center for completing its salvation projects in historical sites of the country.

As the Iranian New Year is approaching on March 21, a large number of salvation projects which were started last year have remained unfinished due to lack of budget or in some cases the huge amount of work which needed to be done. This is why Archeology Research Center of Iran’s Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization has asked the Iranian Cabinet Ministers to allocate a 3 million US Dollar budget for completing archeological salvation projects in historical sites of the country.

Enjoying an ancient civilization, Iran has an untapped potential for archeological activities; however, development projects in the country have posed real threats to many historical sites. Cultural heritage experts believe that considering the large number of archeological sites which exist in Iran, last year’s budget which amounted to one million USD allocated to salvation projects in Iran was not adequate at all.

“Archeology Research Center of Iran’s Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization has requested a three million US dollar budget from the Cabinet Ministers. This will somehow compensate for the existing budget shortages provided that the request is approved by the Cabinet Minister,” said Hassan Fazeli Nashli, director of Iran’s Archeology Research Center.

Fazeli Nashli also said that the country must try to provide all means for archeological excavations not to be stopped for any reason and added: “Because of the insufficient budget allocated to salvation projects, sometimes we had to spend our research budgets for salvation projects. Currently a special budget is needed to complete the salvation project in the vicinity of Simaran, Kalan, and Polvar (Sivand) dams. Otherwise, some of our major historical sites would face an increasing threat of being completely obliterated by the dams.”

Original article here