TEHRAN – On the occasion of Government Week (August 24-30), several tourism-related projects worth 2.2 trillion rials ($7.3 million) are scheduled to come on stream in the northern province of Mazandaran.

The projects include eco-lodge units, tourist complexes, traditional restaurants, and handicrafts centers, the provincial tourism chief Mehdi Izadi said on Monday.

During the time mentioned, three handicraft exhibitions will also be held in the cities of Behshahr, Kelardasht, and Ramsar, the official added.

The exhibits aim at promoting the region’s handicrafts and traditional arts as well as making a marketplace for the local artisans, he noted.

An early civilization flourished at the beginning of the first millennium BC in Mazandaran (Tabarestan).

Its insecure eastern and southeastern borders were crossed by Mongol invaders in the 13th and 14th centuries. Cossacks attacked the region in 1668 but were repulsed. It was ceded to the Russian Empire by a treaty in 1723, but the Russians were never secure in their occupation. The area was restored to Iran under the Qajar dynasty.

The northern section of the region consists of lowland alongside the Caspian and upland along the northern slopes of the Alborz Mountains. Marshy backlands dominate the coastal plain, and extensive gravel fans fringe the mountains. The climate is permanently subtropical and humid, with very hot summers.

ABU/MG