TEHRAN – Bushehr’s tourism directorate is set to restore centuries-old caravanserais situated in Dashtestan country of the southwestern Iranian province.

“A project to restore Dashtestan caravanserais will commence in the new future,” CHTN quoted the provincial tourism chief as saying on Monday.

Earlier this month, Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts Minister Ezzatollah Zarghami paid a visit to Dalaki caravanserai in Dashtestan, saying the historical inn should be prepared for public visits.

“The caravanserai could turn into a handicrafts market after being fully restored,” the minister said.

With over 6,000 years of history and significant monuments from the Elamite, Achaemenid, Parthian, and Sassanid eras, Bushehr is of high historical significance.

Typically, having massive portals supported by elevated load-bearing walls, caravanserai is a compound word combining “caravan” with “sara”; the former stands for a group of travelers and the latter means the building.

There are guest rooms constructed around the courtyard and stables behind them, with doors in the corners of the yard.

The earliest caravanserais in Iran were built during the Achaemenid era (550 - 330 BC). Centuries later, when Shah Abbas I assumed power from 1588 to 1629, he ordered the construction of a network of caravanserais across the country. Such roadside inns were once constructed along ancient caravan routes in the Muslim world to shelter people, their goods and animals. The former Silk Road may be the most famous example dotted by caravanserais.

The Islamic Republic has submitted an inclusive dossier on its caravanserais to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. The dossier comprises obligatory data about a selection of 56 caravanserais, which are scattered across the ancient land. And the shortlist includes qualified caravanserais located in at least 24 provinces.

AFM