TEHRAN -- Iran’s historical position in the development of the Silk Road will be studied during an international conference, which opens in Tehran today.

Over 30 scholars will present papers in the three-day conference, which will be held at the National Museum of Iran (NMI).
The conference is designed to scrutinize the sites and documents discovered in the ancient route, NMI curator Azadeh Ardakani told the Persian service of IRNA on Friday.
The organizers also plan to emphasize the rights of Iran concerning the Silk Road in order to prevent gross distortion of the facts in this field.
Austrian numismatist Michael Alram, who is the director of the Coin Cabinet of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, is scheduled to attend the conference.
Polish Hellenistic and Parthian eras expert Marek Jan Olbrycht, professor of Iranian studies at the Sapienza University of Rome Carlo Cereti, as well as several other foreign scholars have also been invited to the discussion.
“Since the papers, which are slated to be discussed during the meeting, are based on new discoveries on the Silk Road, the conference can help students and scholars increase their knowledge about the route,” Ardakani said.
A collection of artifacts, discovered in the Iranian ancient sites that were found on the Silk Road path during the archaeological excavations, will be showcased in an exhibition as part of the conference.
Photo: In an undated photo, a carpet retailer stands in front of his shop at the Tabriz Bazaar, one of the main trade centers on the Silk Road, in East Azerbaijan Province, northwest Iran. (Mehr/Mahsa Jamali)