TEHRAN –The Qajar-era (1789-1925) Akhavan mansion in Behbahan, southwestern Khuzestan province, is planned to be repurposed into a handicrafts center, a local tourism official has said.

The mansion has undergone some rehabilitation works and will open its doors as a handicrafts center after being fully restored, Ali Haddad explained on Wednesday. 

The historical structure has been inscribed on the national heritage list. 

Behbahan and its surrounding neighborhoods bear some archaeological sites that date from the Sassanian period (224 to 651 CE) and Elamite era (2700 – 539 BC).

Khuzestan is home to three UNESCO World Heritage sites of Susa, Tchogha Zanbil, and Shushtar Historical Hydraulic System, yet it is a region of raw beauty that its visitors could spend weeks exploring. The province is also a cradle for handicrafts and arts whose crafters inherited from their preceding generations.

Lying at the head of the Persian Gulf and bordering Iraq on the west, Khuzestan was settled about 6000 BC by a people with affinities to the Sumerians, who came from the Zagros Mountains region. Urban centers appeared there contemporaneously with the first cities in Mesopotamia in the 4th millennium. Khuzestan, according to Encyclopedia Britannica, came to constitute the heart of the Elamite kingdom, with Susa as its capital.

The value of Iran’s handicraft exports stood at $400 million during the first ten months of the Iranian calendar year 1401 (Mar. 21, 2022 – Jan. 20, 2023), the deputy tourism minister said in February.

Compared with the same period a year earlier, the figure represents some 30 percent growth, Jalali said.

“The Islamic Republic exported $400 million worth of handicrafts during the first ten months of the current year, which shows a 30 percent increase year on year.”

Iran exported some $320 million worth of handicrafts during the Iranian year (1400), the official stated.

The Islamic Republic has the most cities and towns registered with the World Crafts Council (WCC), followed by China with seven, Chile with four, and India with three designated ones.

The WCC-Asia-Pacific Region designated Shiraz, Malayer, Zanjan, and the village of Qasemabad in January 2020, bringing the total number of craft cities and towns in Iran from 10 to 14. Shiraz has been dubbed “the world city of [various] handicrafts.”

Malayer became a center for woodcarving and carved wood furniture on a global scale. The designation “world city of filigree” was given to Zanjan. The village of Qassemabad, which is renowned throughout the country for its traditional costumes, was also promoted to a major handicrafts center on an international scale.

Ceramics, porcelain, handwoven clothing, jewelry, and semi-precious stones are among Iranian handicrafts traditionally exported to Iraq, Afghanistan, Germany, the U.S., and the Persian Gulf coastal states, to name a few.

ABU/