TEHRAN – A delegation of experts and assessors from the World Crafts Council is slated to visit Shiraz for investigating the possibility of naming it a world city of handicrafts.

Evaluators from the World Crafts Council will arrive in Shiraz, Fars province, within the next two weeks in order to closely observe handicrafts and other related activities that are practiced in Shiraz, Fars province’s tourism chief Mosayeb Amiri said on Sunday, IRIB reported.

Last year, World Crafts Council-Asia Pacific Region Director Ghada Hijavi paid a visit to handicrafts’ workshops and stores in Shiraz, emphasizing that the southern city deserves the title, the official explained.

For the time being, over 40 fields of handicrafts are practiced in Shiraz, the official added.

Back in February, the oasis city of Meybod celebrated becoming a world city for Zilou, a traditional type of floor covering commonly woven across the central Iranian city and its outskirts. The oasis city won the WCC-APR status last October after a delegation of international experts probed the in-house expertise which has been passed down generations to generations.

So far, the council has granted same titles to several Iranian cities and villages including Abadeh for its art of “Woodcarving” and the village of Khorashad for the craft ‘Toebafi’ (traditional hand woven fabrics).

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 (1751–1794).

Iran’s handicrafts exports reached $289 million in the past Iranian calendar year 1397, showing three percent growth year on year, based on data released by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts.

Traditional ceramics, pottery vessels, handwoven cloths as well as personal ornamentations with precious and semi-precious gemstones are among Iranian exports to Iraq, Afghanistan and Germany, the U.S., the UK, and other countries

AFM/MG