TEHRAN – The cities of Gorgan and Gonbad-e Kavus in northern Golestan province will successively host the 11th International Festival of Tribes Culture in early September, ISNA reported on Monday.

The first event will be held at Gorgan International Exhibition Center from September 4 to 7 and the second at Gonbad-e Kavus’ Olympic Sports Complex from September 9 to 11, said Ebrahim Karimi who presides over Golestan province’s Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts Department.

Holding exhibits on handicrafts and souvenirs as well as rituals and traditional music performances, and setting up massive ethnic tents called siah chador (black tent) are among the main programs of the festival, the official added.

Diplomats, cultural officials, as well as regional performers, craftspeople, and artists from Iran and the neighboring countries such as Armenia, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Iraq, and Afghanistan have been invited to participate in the festival.

The province is home to the UNESCO-registered Gonbad-e Qabus, a one-millennium-old brick tower that is of high architectural importance as an exemplar design of the early-Islamic-era architecture. The 53-meter-high tomb-tower is where Qabus Ibn Voshmgir, the 11th-century Ziyarid ruler and literati is laid to rest.

PHOTO: An undated photo depicts Turkmen nomads performing a traditional dance at the foot of Gonbad-e Qabus, a UNESCO-inscribed tower in northern Iran.

AFM/MG