TEHRAN – Iranian tourism ministry will demolish a building situated near the Shushtar Historical Hydraulic System after it has purchased the property in a bid to restore the visual layout of the UNESCO-registered site.

An abandoned school, the building will be demolished based on an agreement reached by the tourism ministry and the ministry of education, CHTN reported on Saturday.

The move will help to minimize visual distortion of the World Heritage site on the one hand, and provide additional space for the sightseers, the report said.

The UNESCO site embraces a series of ancient watermills powered by human-made waterfalls as well as some bridges, weirs, tunnels, and canals.

The property is named after an ancient city of the same name with its history dating back to the time of Darius, the Great, the Achaemenid king.

Shushtar Historical Hydraulic System is rich in its diversity of civil engineering structures and constructions as in the diversity of its uses (urban water supply, mills, irrigation, river transport, and defensive system).

According to UNESCO, the site testifies to the heritage and the synthesis of earlier Elamite and Mesopotamian know-how; it was probably influenced by the Petra dam and tunnel and by Roman civil engineering.

“The hydraulic system has been considered a Wonder of the World not only by the Persians but also by the Arab-Muslims at the peak of their civilization,” according to the UN cultural body.

Experts believe that the hydraulic ensemble is complete, with plentiful functions and a large-scale size that makes it exceptional.

The UN cultural body says that the Shushtar Historical Hydraulic System establishes outstanding universal value as in its present form, it dates from the 3rd century CE, possibly on older bases from the 5th century BC.

AFM