TEHRAN – A senior expert affiliated with the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization will arrive in Iran in September to visit and review the current status of the Uraman rural landscape in western Iran, which is a candidate for becoming a World Heritage site in 2021.

“An assessor of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization will be traveling to Kordestan by the end of [the Iranian month of] Shahrivar (which ends on Sep. 21) in order to review the status of Uraman rural landscape for [possibly] being registered in the UNESCO World Heritage list,” IRAN quoted Pouya Talebnia, the director of the cultural landscape, as saying on Monday.

“We are finalizing [preparation] the villages of the Uraman region before the UNESCO assessor pays a visit,” Talebnia said, adding “Previously, a UNESCO adviser visited the region and provided us with a report on what changes and works needed to be done.”

“That will be the last [field] step for the global registration of Uraman, and the UNESCO evaluator [will probably] recommend us to solve issues within six months, and next year, on such days, a voting session will be held for the registration of Uraman on UNESCO list.”

The visit, which was scheduled for late May and early June, was postponed to late in summer over the coronavirus outbreak in the country, Kermanshah tourism chief Omid Qaderi announced on Early in May.

Iran submitted the UN body a dossier for the Uraman cultural landscape in 2019. Some eighty experts in various fields compiled and developed the dossier in terms of anthropology, archeology and history, natural sciences, architecture, historical documents, and other related fields.

Local officials believe that inscription of the property on the prestigious list of the UN body could jumpstart tourism in the region and also look at it as a tool for better conservation of its natural landscapes and unique cultural scenes for the next generations, saying its unique rural texture, architecture, lifestyle, and agriculture is a prominent example of the integration of man into nature.

Uraman is considered a cradle of Kurdish art and culture from the days of yore. Pirshalyar, which is named after a legendary local figure, is amongst time-honored celebrations and rituals that are practiced annually across the region.

Stretched on a steep slope in Uraman Takht rural district of Sarvabad County, the village is home to dense and step-like rows of houses in a way that the roof of each house forms the yard of the upper one, a feature that adds to its charm and attractiveness.

AFM/MG