TEHRAN – A budget of 60 billion rials ($200,000) has been allocated to restore UNESCO-registered Gonbad-e Qabus, an official with the tourism ministry has said.

In order to facilitate tourists’ visits, the budget will be spent on restoring and organizing the UNESCO-designated structure, CHTN quoted Nader Zeinali as saying on Saturday.

Located in Iran’s Golestan province, the brick tower is of high architectural importance as an exemplar and innovative design of early-Islamic-era architecture.

The UNESCO comments that it bears testimony to the cultural exchange between Central Asian nomads and the ancient civilization of Iran.

UNESCO also credits Gonbad-e Qabus as “an outstanding and technologically innovative example of Islamic architecture that influenced sacral building in Iran, Anatolia, and Central Asia.”

The long-lasting structure capped by an eye-catching conical roof boasts intricate geometric principles and patterns which embellish parts of its load-bearing brickwork.

Two encircling inscriptions in Kufic calligraphy date the tower to 1006-7 CE while commemorating Qabus Ibn Voshmgir, Ziyarid ruler and literati (reigned 978–1012).

Narratives say the tower has influenced various subsequent designers of tomb towers and other cylindrical commemorative structures both in the region and beyond.

ABU/MG