TEHRAN – On Saturday, Ezzatollah Zarghami, the Minister of Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts, paid a visit to the ancient city of Gonabad, which is renowned for its UNESCO-recognized qanat system, thought to have been built between 700 and 500 BC.

During his brief stop in Gonabad en route to Birjand, Zarghami took the opportunity to visit the UNESCO-designated qanat and explore some of the region’s tourist infrastructure. He expressed his viewpoint, stating, “Considering its rich capacities, Gonabad stands out as a priority for investment in the tourism sector.”

The minister highlighted the capability and logic behind any investments made in this region, foreseeing a promising future for tourism development in the area.

“Gonabad boasts exceptional capabilities in cultural heritage and tourism. Supporting tourism investors in this region by removing investment barriers and facilitating services is crucial,” Zarghami said.

Located in Razavi Khorasan province, Gonabad holds a wealth of historical tourist destinations, attracting both domestic and international travelers.

Its ancient history, dating back to legendary times mentioned in Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh, portrays Gonabad as a land of warfare and legend.

In ancient times, Gonabad served as a residential area during the Achaemenid era and was strategically situated on the route connecting Zabol, Makran, Fars, Turkistan, and Herat in western Iran, gaining attention from rulers of that ancient period.

Before the Islamic era, this region acted as an internal passageway in the Iranian plateau and its eastern parts.

According to IRNA, among the 250 identified historical sites in Gonabad, 148 have been registered in the national heritage list, with the qanat being the only UNESCO-registered site in Khorasan Razavi, symbolizing the resilience of the desert dwellers in their quest for water dating back to the Achaemenid era.

Furthermore, 12 traditional ceremonies of Gonabad are listed on the country’s intangible cultural heritage registry.

In 2016, a selection of eleven qanats was collectively inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list under the title of The Persian Qanat. Each of them epitomizes many others in terms of geographic scopes, architectural design, and other motives. Such subterranean tunnels provide exceptional testimony to cultural traditions and civilizations in desert areas with an arid climate.

Generally, each qanat comprises an almost horizontal tunnel for collecting water from an underground water source, usually an alluvial fan, into which a mother well is sunk to the appropriate level of the aquifer.

UNESCO has it that “The qanats provide exceptional testimony to cultural traditions and civilizations in desert areas with an arid climate.”

AFM