TEHRAN – On Thursday, the Minister of Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts, Seyyed Reza Salehi-Amiri, arrived in Shiraz to attend a commemoration ceremony of Hafez, the illustrious Persian poet of the 14th century.

During his two-day stay, Salehi-Amiri paid visits to the holy shrine of Shah Cheragh as well as several historical and touristic sites, ISNA reported on Friday.

Accompanied by Fars Governor-General Mohammad-Hadi Imanieh and the province’s tourism chief Mohammad Sabet-Eqlidi, the minister also inspected ongoing projects aimed at preserving and promoting the city’s rich cultural legacy.

His visit included a tour of the under-construction Fars Regional Museum and the Garden Museum of Notables, where he reviewed the progress of these significant tourism developments.

The Fars Regional Museum, covering 30,000 square meters, will house four main galleries totaling 1,600 square meters, alongside an auditorium, cinema, laboratory, prayer room, café, and a secure storage area for valuable artifacts.

According to local officials, it is designed to be one of the safest museum structures in the country, with blast-resistant walls to protect its collections.

The Garden Museum of Notables, with 19,000 square meters of space, is set to pay tribute to a selection of notables including the exhibition of statues of 48 prominent Iranian and international poets, including Hafez.

The museum will also feature a specialized library and serve as a venue for future Hafez Studies Center events. Once completed, the garden museum is expected to become a major cultural attraction in Shiraz.

During the trip, Salehi-Amiri also visited the restoration and water management project at the historical Karim Khan Citadel, a prominent site from the Zand dynasty era. The citadel remains one of the most important architectural landmarks in Shiraz.

The minister’s tour extended to the Emarat-e Divan-Khanah, a historical mansion also dating back to the Zand period, located near Karim Khan Citadel. The two-story structure covering 840 square meters, is noted for its intricate stonework, murals, and traditional Shiraz-style painting. The mansion’s courtyard features a long reflecting pool, and its architecture embodies the inward-facing design typical of Zand-era buildings.

Moreover, Salehi-Amiri paid a visit to the Pars Museum (Kolah Farangi Mansion), another relic of the Zand dynasty, where he reviewed ongoing efforts to preserve the structure.

Celebrated as the heartland of Persian culture for over 2000 years, Shiraz has become synonymous with education, nightingales, poetry, and crafts skills passed down from generation to generation. It was one of the most important cities in the medieval Islamic world and was the Iranian capital during the Zand dynasty from 1751 to 1794.

Shiraz is home to some of the country’s most magnificent buildings and sights. Increasingly, it draws more and more foreign and domestic sightseers flocking to this provincial capital.

Eram Garden, Afif-Abad Garden, Tomb of Hafez, Tomb of Sa’di, Jameh Mosque of Atigh, and Persepolis are among the historical, cultural, and ancient sites of Shiraz that are of interest to domestic and foreign tourists.

The ancient city is also home to some magnificent historical gardens such as Bagh-e Narenjestan and Eram Garden, which are top tourist destinations both for domestic and international sightseers.

AM