TEHRAN – Senior officials from sixteen countries visited the UNESCO-inscribed Golestan Palace in downtown Tehran, expressing surprise at the architectural and artistic masterpieces of the historic complex.

“Political delegations and senior officials from Spain, Germany, Ukraine, Hungary, South Korea, Moldova, Poland, Hungary, Thailand, Vatican, Tunisia, Denmark, Chile, Austria, Vietnam and Senegal visited different parts of Golestan Palace over a span of three days,” Mehr quoted Masud Nosrati, the director of the historical palace, as saying on Sunday. 

The visits were made during their sojourn to Tehran to attend the inauguration ceremony of President Hassan Rouhani, which was held on Saturday.

The lavish Golestan Palace is a masterpiece of the Qajar era (1785 to 1925), embodies a successful integration of earlier Persian crafts and architecture with Western influences.

It became a center of Qajari arts and architecture of which it is an outstanding example and has remained a source of inspiration for Iranian artists and architects to this day.

Having a well-worn tourist circuit with 22 UNESCO World Heritage sites and soaked in deeply-rooted-in-time history and culture, Iran seeks to acquire greater share of the global tourism industry.

PHOTO: An external view of the UNESCO-inscribed Golestan Palace in downtown Tehran

AFM/MG