Concerns Over Raisi Government’s Efforts to Destroy Shiraz’s Historic Fabric Under Pretext of Shah Cheragh Shrine Expansion

Iran’s Labor News Agency, ILNA, has reported on efforts by Islamic Republic officials to demolish a vast section of Shiraz’s historic urban fabric under the guise of “expanding the Shah Cheragh Shrine.”

According to the report, fifty-seven hectares of Shiraz’s historic fabric are set to be demolished.

ILNA writes that during a recent visit by Ibrahim Raisi, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, to Fars Province and the city of Shiraz, “the issue of the shrine expansion plan and demolition of sections of Shiraz’s historic fabric was raised.” According to a government cabinet resolution, 200 historic houses surrounding the Shah Cheragh Shrine are being removed from the cultural heritage registry so that the “Shah Cheragh Shrine expansion plan” can proceed.

Based on this report, the Raisi government’s decision prompted activists, specialists, and 180 university professors to express their concerns by writing a letter to Iran’s President and calling for the plan’s implementation to be halted.

According to ILNA, it has long been stated that Shiraz’s historic fabric spans 360 hectares and contains over 2,000 valuable houses within this area. However, “in recent years, the destruction of the historic fabric and demolition of various historic houses and structures has not only not stopped, but has continued rapidly. Even buildings registered on the national heritage list are not safe from demolition.”

This report reveals officials’ disregard for Shiraz’s historic values and states that the destruction of Shiraz’s historic fabric has occurred in the past, and in place of each house and historic site with cultural value, “parking lots and sanitary facilities” have been constructed, and “under the pretext of restoration, roofs and tile work of Shiraz’s historic houses are being stolen.”

The ILNA report adds that in the past 15 years, 200 historic houses in Shiraz have been destroyed under the pretext of implementing the expansion plan.

Gholamhossein Memarian, a professor at Iran’s Science and Industry University and one of the opponents of implementing the plan to demolish Shiraz’s historic fabric, told ILNA: “In recent years, specialists’ protests about the treatment of historic fabrics, especially Shiraz’s historic fabric, have taken place through written statements, conferences, billboards, speeches, and even sometimes lying in front of bulldozers, but unfortunately the process of destroying Shiraz’s historic fabric has continued.”

He stated that the major destruction of Shiraz’s historic fabric “occurred suddenly and at night,” and “for several years we have been starting our day repeatedly by hearing news of the destruction and demolition of Shiraz’s historic fabric and other cities.”

According to this university professor, with the formation of the thirteenth government, it appears that the same demolition policies of the tenth government, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s administration, are being pursued “in a different form.”

Gholamhossein Memarian said regarding the performance of Islamic Republic officials: “Instead of saving Shiraz’s historic fabric, officials are thinking about its overnight destruction.”

In this university professor’s view, “preserving a historic city means preserving the shared cultural and social values of people that have been created by people over hundreds of years. These values cannot be seen by preserving a single building or one house.”

The destruction of ancient, historic, and national artifacts has been reported in various regions of Iran over the past four decades.

In September of this year, reports were published showing that a historic building dating to “the fourth and fifth centuries of the Islamic calendar” in the north of the country had been demolished.

Source: Voice of America