TEHRAN – Some 70,000 people visited Iran’s UNESCO World Heritage sites on virtual tours from April 27 to May 3, CHTN quoted Mohammad-Hassan Talebian, deputy cultural heritage, tourism, and handicrafts minister, as saying on Monday.

Considering the coronavirus outbreak in the country and the holy month of Ramadan, these virtual tours are a good opportunity for Iranians to visit the country’s most popular cultural heritage sites, he added. 

As the country’s tourism has gone into lockdown over the coronavirus pandemic, the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts decided to arrange virtual tours on the country’s 24 World Heritage sites in collaboration with the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) during the holy month of Ramadan. 

Last month, Talebian expressed his hope that such projects would continue after the end of Ramadan, referring to the success of the virtual tours and online visits of the museums and some other tourist attractions during the Persian New Year holiday (Noruz).  
 
The virtual tours, which are available on Aparat, an Iranian video sharing service, will continue until May 19.

“Arg-e Bam” (Bam Citadel) that represents an outstanding example of an ancient fortified settlement, “Bisotun” in western Kermanshah province, which is notable for its Achaemenid-era inscription carved on a limestone cliff, lavish “Golestan Palace” in downtown Tehran which is a masterpiece of the Qajar era (1789 to 1925), and millennium-old “Gonbad-e Qabus” which is a mudbrick tomb tower for Qabus ibn Wushmagir, are among the UNESCO-designated sites in Iran.

ABU/MG