The Cultural Heritage Organisation began implementing Clause H of Article 36 of the Budget Law in 1999. Under Clause H, this organisation will restore, revive and equip caravanserais, houses and other suitable historical buildings throughout the country for use in tourism. These buildings, once equipped, will be placed at the disposal of the private sector. The output of the Clause H Implementation Office within the Cultural Heritage Organisation in 1999 has been very impressive, and according to Cultural Heritage officials, by the end of the current year the restoration of a number of selected buildings will have been completed, and they will be ready to receive visitors during the Nowruz holidays of 2001. The implementation of this project will bring about a fundamental transformation in two areas: preserving our country's invaluable cultural heritage, which has always been a source of national pride, and breathing new life into the tourism industry, which in past years has been stagnant and beset by misunderstandings.
With the realisation of this plan, perhaps for the first time, a significant portion of the beautiful buildings of our past heritage that have been at risk of destruction will be brought to life and made enduring by creating the possibility of their utilisation, while simultaneously breathing new life into a tourism industry that suffers from a lack of appropriate facilities and equipment. Public use of these buildings will also yield another result that comes later but will be deep-rooted: as these buildings enter everyday life, they will provide beautiful and attractive spaces for urban life and the architecture of the city, which, in addition to being visually pleasing, will have a lasting cultural role.
Memar magazine, in appreciation of the Cultural Heritage Organisation's valuable initiative, has undertaken to introduce this plan. Mr. Engineer Taghizadeh, the Director of the Clause H Implementation Office of Article 36 of the Budget Law at the Cultural Heritage Organisation, has provided explanations about it, which follow below:
The implementation of Clause H began as a national plan in 1999. Based on the provisions of this clause, we were required to select caravanserais, houses and other suitable historical buildings in which minor alterations are not prohibited and do not damage the authenticity of the buildings. Naturally, in this selection, we had to employ a method and criteria. A scattered, disorderly selection was not feasible. Therefore, as a first step, we identified two major corridors that constitute the main routes of tourist movement in Iran. The first corridor is the north-south axis, which begins at the Bazargan border and terminates in Bushehr. The second corridor is the east-west axis, from Sarakhs or Bajgiran to Qasr-e Shirin. These two corridors are considered the backbone of the country's road network and have a very long history. The Silk Road and the Spice Road also coincide with these corridors, and the cities and civilisation of our land have taken shape along these routes.
Since we assumed that the national will and policy was to attract tourists to the country, and after Tehran's airport the greatest number of foreign tourists enter through the Bazargan border, and many foreign travellers invariably visit Isfahan, Shiraz and Yazd, and Bushehr can also play an important role in planning for Arab tourists, we first began work on the north-south corridor. Along this corridor, after reviewing the Cultural Heritage archives and conducting field studies, we selected 24 urban and roadside locations through several rounds of screening:
- The bathhouse and houses complex of Kordshahr near the Iran–Armenia border, built by the late Abbas Mirza
- A caravanserai called Bayam on the Tabriz to Marand road
- A bathhouse in the city of Tabriz to be converted into a traditional restaurant
- A bathhouse and the Chalabi Oghlu khanqah building in Soltaniyeh
- The Sa'd al-Saltaneh Complex (14,000 m²) and a water reservoir in Qazvin
- The Shahrestanak Complex in Tehran
- The Ali Abad Caravanserai on the road to Qom
- The grand Ameriha Houses complex (four houses) in Kashan
- Several houses including one in Abyaneh
- The Shahzadegan Bathhouse in Isfahan
- The Malek Caravanserai in Amin Abad on the Isfahan to Shiraz road
- The Hojat Abad Vazir Complex, 40 km from Tehran on the road to Yazd
- Five or six houses in the Fahadan neighbourhood of Yazd
- Four houses in Abarqu
- The Takht-e Jamshid Hotel in Marvdasht
- The Shapouri House and the Karim Khan Zand Divan-khaneh in Shiraz
- In Bam (which lacks lodging facilities), the Arsham House; and near the waterfalls in Shushtar, several houses
Work on this corridor began in eighteen cases in 1999, and in some cases, due to disagreements over property acquisition, we have not yet been able to commence work. We hope that in the year 2000, the projects that have begun will be completed and will be ready to receive visitors during the next Nowruz. The restoration and revival of these buildings is carried out through a management contract method, and Cultural Heritage Organisation supervisors monitor the quality of execution. In these contracts, the interior architecture and full equipping of the building have been specified in complete detail, and the organisation's policy is that in the interior design and equipping of the buildings, the beautiful cultural and climatic diversity of our country should be taken into consideration.
In selecting the type of use for these buildings, those tourist needs that can be met within the physical framework of a historical building have been considered. Most of these buildings are being converted into guesthouses and lodgings, traditional restaurants and teahouses, clinics, centres for the production and display of traditional and handicraft arts, prayer rooms, or outlets for travel supplies. Additionally, in some areas where noteworthy ceremonial events are held — such as nomadic migrations, rosewater distillation, carpet-washing ceremonies, or special mourning rituals — provisions for hosting those interested in these ceremonies have been planned.
Statistics from the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance show that our country's tourists — both Iranian and foreign — even during recreational trips, show a special interest in cultural aspects and visits to museums and historical buildings, and this interest has increased significantly in recent years. In our view, even before the Revolution, this cultural dimension was predominant. Most foreign and domestic travellers have wanted to visit historical sites rather than places like casinos.
At present, the government's general policy is to emphasise this cultural dimension. It is said that out of 700 million annual tourists worldwide, approximately 50 to 60 million are potential cultural tourists and those interested in visiting Iran. In the past 20 years, we have been largely unaware or under-informed about the world. Throughout the world, people and public opinion have shown a great tendency toward the cultural dimensions of life. The consequences of AIDS, alcohol and drug addiction, family breakdown, gambling and so forth have driven the people of industrial societies toward environmental protection, sports, and the utilisation and proliferation of culture. Therefore, we believe that future tourists to Iran will share these interests. For them, staying in hotels like the Hilton, which they have in abundance in their own countries, holds no attraction. In our country, two areas interest them: natural attractions, and especially the diversity and variety of our culture, which has faded even in European countries and a country like Japan. For this reason, in this plan, we have endeavoured to present these attractions.
We hope that with the good start we made in 1999, we will achieve the goals of the five-year development plan in this area, and over the course of this plan, prepare and equip the two aforementioned corridors and other locations across the country in a network for domestic and foreign tourists.
In the current year, while continuing work on the north-south corridor and adding to the number of buildings along it, we have also begun work on the east-west corridor from Mashhad to Qasr-e Shirin. The efforts are aimed at identifying, restoring, reviving, equipping and linking surviving buildings from the past at intervals of 150 to 200 kilometres — instead of the old 30–35 kilometre standard that was the criterion for building caravanserais — and this is still just the beginning.
Some of the buildings along the east-west route whose restoration will begin in the year 2000 include:
- Mehr Caravanserai in Sabzevar
- Robat-e Sharaf Caravanserai in Khorasan
- Gadook Caravanserai in Mazandaran
- A house complex in Gorgan
- A large house in Hamadan
- Mahi Dasht Caravanserai in Kermanshah
- Qasr-e Shirin Caravanserai in Qasr-e Shirin
Another important point that should be mentioned here is the great economic importance of these projects. The criterion for selecting buildings has been that they should be able to accommodate a minimum of approximately 40 people — that is, a full bus. For this reason, small houses have not been selected. The organisation's policy is that the management of these centres be entrusted to cultured individuals who understand the value of the work. Currently, in the private sector, we have many applicants who are even interested in participating in the restoration and revival process, or have expressed a desire to undertake such projects independently. We have welcomed them and assist them with ideas and technical supervision.
In reality, our effort is to show the way by implementing this plan, and we hope that many owners of such buildings throughout the country, upon seeing the examples of completed work and their becoming economically viable, will become interested in similar initiatives. This is precisely our ultimate goal, because we believe that only through the active participation of the people can we rescue and preserve the heritage of the past, and in this way, recover what we have long lost.
