ARMENIAN MONASTERIES IN IRAN ADDED TO WORLD HERITAGE LIST

Cultural Heritage News Agency
7 July 2008
Tehran

The Armenian Monastic Ensembles in Iran, in the north-east of the
country, consists of three monastic ensembles of the Armenian Christian
faith Fortified Armenian monasteries in Iran were added to the new
sites inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. The Armenian Monastic
Ensembles in the north-east of the country, consists of three monastic
ensembles of the Armenian Christian faith: St Thaddeus, St Stepanos,
and the Chapel of Dzordzor.

Fortified Armenian monasteries in Iran were added to the new sites
inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List on 6 July.

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 (Madâin Sâlih) in Saudi Arabia, and the Fujian
Tulou in China.

Iran had eight historical sites on the UNESCO list. Pasargadae, Bam
and its Cultural Landscape, Tchogha Zanbil, Persepolis, Meidan Emam
in Esfahan, Bisotun, Takht-e Soleyman and Soltaniyeh, the mausoleum
of Oljaytu. So magnificent Armenian monastic ensembles in Azerbaijan
province becomes its ninth inscription on the World Heritage List.

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