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The first festival of
folk games of Zanjan province will be held in August/September 2006 in the
historical site of Soltanieh Dome.
Tehran, 25 June 2006 (CHN Foreign Desk) -- The first festival
of Zanjan's folk games, aiming to revive the folk games of Zanjan province and
introducing them as one of the tourism attractions of this province will be held
in the historical site of Soltanieh monument during this coming
August/September.
Announced this news, Yahya Rahmati, director of the
Cultural Heritage and Tourism Department of Zanjan province said, "Currently 24
folk games exist in Zanjan province, out of which 12 will be chosen for this
festival.”
Horse racing on the lawn of Soltanieh will be one of the
other programs of this festival. "This race will be held with the same purpose
which is introducing the tourism attractions of the city since Soltanieh is
merely known for its historic domed monument and people do not know much about
the city’s other tourism potentials," added Rahmati.
According to
Rahmati, on the sideline of the festival an exhibition will be held to introduce
the folk games through films and pictures. The guests will be welcomed by the
delicious broths selected in Zanjan's Broth Festival.
Several
organizations such as the governor office, municipality, and city council of
Zanjan will cooperate with the Cultural Heritage and Tourism Department of
Zanjan in holding this festival.
Zanjan is one of the 32 provinces of
Iran, located 330 kilometer northwest of Tehran. Zanjani artists make a number
of handicrafts including various decorative dishes and their special covers as
well as silver jewelry. Many villagers today are traditional carpet weavers.
This is perhaps Zanjan’s most popular handicraft.
Zanjan province also
has a lot of natural and historical sites. There is a historical bazaar in the
city of Zanjan belonging to the Safavid era where you can find several
handicrafts and many beautiful souvenirs.
Soltanieh Dome with an
elevation exceeding 54 meters is one of most wonderful pieces of architecture of
the Ilkhanid era (1256-1353 AD). Construction of this ancient monument, located
30 kilometers from the city of Zanjan, dates back to 700 years ago. This dome
with its octagonal base, exquisite tile-work and magnificent architecture is one
of the most unique examples of Islamic architecture in Iran.
Soltanieh
Dome, the biggest of the kind in the world which is made
of brick, was registered in the UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites last year.
This decision was made in July 2005 session of World Heritage Committee meeting.
Thus the dome became the seventh Iranian site registered in the list of UNESCO
World Heritage.
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