TEHRAN -- A team of experts have prepared a restoration plan to save Taq-e Bostan, a Sassanid monument in Kermanshah, western Iran.

The plan includes carrying out a dehumidification process, studying the mechanical factors of the stone mass in the mount, studying the level of erosion on bas-reliefs, and undertaking geological and hydrological studies in the region, team director Siamak Khadivi told the Persian service of CHN on Friday. Another team of experts will examine the plan next week with the view to its practicability. The proposals must later be approved by the Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts Organization director, he added. During winter and spring, water flows into cracks in the rock in which Taq-e Bostan has been carved, causing serious damage. Located between mounts Paru and Farrokhshad, the monument comprises two arches bearing many unique bas-reliefs on their inner and outer facades which depict various aspects of the political, religious and social life of the Sassanid ruling class. One such relief depicts a scene in which the Sassanid King Khosrow II (reign 590–628) is being crowned by Ahura Mazda and Anahita. There are also bas-reliefs of the Sassanid kings Ardashir II (reign 379–383) and Shapur III (reign 383–388). The larger of the two arches also carries bas-reliefs portraying a Sassanid monarch on a hunting ground as well as bas-reliefs later carved at the order of Fat’hali Shah of the Qajar dynasty (1794-1925)