🔻Iran’s Cultural Heritage: In an experimental plan, Hafezieh and Saadiyeh are managed by a “board of trustees”

Ali Darabi, deputy minister of Iran’s Ministry of Cultural Heritage, has said the government of this country intends to step away from the management of cultural heritage sites and, through an experimental plan, intends to change the management structure of Hafezieh and Saadiyeh in Shiraz to a “board of trustees” framework.

Mr. Darabi, in remarks to the Iranian government news agency IRNA, said: “The management of a board of trustees for heritage sites does not mean that ownership of these buildings is transferred, because, under the constitution, these sites are among national treasures and there is no permission for their transfer. The system for operating these sites is to be assigned, based on a standard model and cultural-heritage regulations, to a compound group consisting of the governor and several real and legal figures.”

The deputy minister of Iran’s Ministry of Cultural Heritage, in further explaining this decision, said the eligibility of the real persons in the board of trustees throughout the country must be approved by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, and that “the governor will be the head and the director-general of cultural heritage in [the province] will be the deputy chair of the board of trustees.”

In response to the reason for choosing Hafezieh and Saadiyeh as the first experimental step in delegating the management of cultural heritage sites, he said: “One of these reasons is that Fars has a governor who is determined and resolute. The cultural heritage director-general of this province is experienced and knowledgeable, and the mayor of Shiraz is also on the ground and can be a successful model.”

According to Mr. Darabi, the current statistics for cultural heritage sites in Iran that are under government management are: “14,000 historic buildings, 23,000 historic sites and mounds, and 830 museums, which, by the end of the Seventh Development Plan, must reach 1,000 museums.”