ARMENIAN MONASTERIES IN IRAN ADDED TO UNESCO’S WORLD HERITAGE LIST
States News Service
July 6, 2008 Sunday
The following information was released by the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO):
The Armenian Monastic Ensembles in Iran, in the north-east of the
country, consists of three monastic ensembles of the Armenian Christian
faith: St Thaddeus and St Stepanos and the Chapel of Dzordzor. These
edifices – the oldest of which, St Thaddeus, dates back to the
7th century – are examples of outstanding universal value of the
Armenian architectural and decorative traditions. They bear testimony
to very important interchanges with the other regional cultures,
in particular the Byzantine, Orthodox and Persian. Situated on the
south-eastern fringe of the main zone of the Armenian cultural space,
the monasteries constituted a major centre for the dissemination of
that culture into Azerbayjan and Persia. They are the last regional
remains of this culture that are still in a satisfactory state of
integrity and authenticity. Furthermore, as places of pilgrimage,
the monastic ensembles are living witnesses of Armenian religious
traditions through the centuries.
This is the fourth cultural site to be added onto UNESCO’s World
Heritage List since the start of the current session of the World
Heritage Committee today. The three properties inscribed earlier
today were: Le Morne Cultural Landscape in Mauritius, The Al-Hijr
Archaeological Site (Mad?in S?lih) in Saudi Arabia, and the Fujian
Tulou in China.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
