TEHRAN – Cultural heritage museums and historical sites across Lorestan province began to reopen Thursday after being closed for weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Among the museums and sites reopening Thursday was Falak-ol-Aflak fortress, an unmissable eight-towered monument, which dominates the capital city of Khorramabad.

“All museums [and historical sites] in Lorestan, including the centuries-old Falak-ol-Aflak fortress, will be open to tourists and visitors as of today in compliance with health protocols,” CHTN quoted the provincial tourism chief, Seyyed Amin Qasemi, as saying on Thursday.

Dear visitors should wear face masks and observe social distances, the official noted.

Over the past couple of days, the number of people testing positive for COVID-19 has continued to fall in the Islamic Republic, curbing a stubborn fifth wave of the pandemic, which has seen daily mortalities of up to 700 in recent weeks. As of September 22, the figure dropped to below 300 as the government has devoted a great deal of effort to vaccinate citizens against the nasty virus.

Lorestan is a region of raw beauty that an avid nature lover could spend weeks exploring. The region was inhabited by Iranian Indo-European peoples, including the Medes, c. 1000 BC. Cimmerians and Scythians intermittently ruled the region from about 700 to 625 BC.

One of the most prominent archaeological findings of the fertile region is the ancient “Luristan Bronzes”, which are noted for their eclectic array of Assyrian, Babylonian, and Iranian artistic motifs.

Lorestan was incorporated into the growing Achaemenid Empire in about 540 BC and successively was part of the Seleucid, Parthian, and Sassanid dynasties.

AFM