TEHRAN–A total of 35 new museums have been opened to the public in Iran over the past 12 months when President Ayatollah Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi took office in August 2021, IRIB reported on Tuesday.

Approximately 70 percent of the tourism ministry’s budget goes to the field of cultural heritage, which demonstrates its importance to the government, the report added.

In addition, efforts have been made to place the protection and restoration of cultural heritage as the social responsibility of the entire society and to increase the participation of the people.

According to data compiled by the tourism ministry, currently, 740 museums are active across Iran and some three million historical objects are being kept at museums affiliated with the Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts, and Tourism Ministry.

Iran is home to one of the world’s oldest continuous major civilizations, embracing settlements dating back to 4000 BC. It also hosts some of the world’s oldest cultural monuments, including bazaars, museums, mosques, bridges, bathhouses, madrasas, gardens, rich natural, rural landscapes as well as 26 UNESCO World Heritage sites.

The name of Iran, formerly known as Persia, mostly conjures up the first Persian Empire, ruled by the Achaemenids (ca. 550 – 330 BC) and sites such as Pasargadae and Persepolis. However, there are tens of prehistorical sites as the Burnt City in Sistan-Baluchestan, Tepe Sialk in Kashan, Susa and Chogha Zanbil in the Khuzestan province, and Ecbatana in Hamedan which predate the Achaemenid period.

From a wider point of view, Iranian history can be divided into Pre-Islamic and Islamic eras. The Medes unified Iran as a nation and empire in 625 BC. The Islamic conquest of Persia (633–656) that put an end to the mighty Sassanid Empire (224–651) was a turning point in the history of the nation.

ABU/AM