Iran presents Wind Towers file to UNESCO World Heritage

Iran has presented the historical structure of Wind Towers file to the UNESCO for a possible inscription on the World Heritage list of the organization.

The historical records of the structure were compiled in a file by cultural heritage experts and delivered to UNESCO last week, the deputy director of the Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Organization (CHTHO) Mohammad Hassan Talebian announced.

The officials are hopeful that the file to be assessed at the year’s World Heritage Committee session.

Wind Towers (Wind Catcher) are considered as the remarkable ancient Iranian architecture that can be seen in the country’s eleven cities.

Designed in various forms, a wind tower is applied as a traditional element to create natural ventilation in buildings.

While central Iran always shows large diurnal temperature variation with an arid climate, the wind catcher’s effectiveness had led to its routine use as a refrigerating device in the past Persian architecture.

Many traditional water reservoirs (locally called Ab Anbars) are built with wind catchers that are capable of storing water at near freezing temperatures during summer months.

The construction of a wind catcher depends on the direction of airflow at that specific location but all perform a similar function.

Traditional Persian wind catchers later inspired Western architecture, such as the design of visitor center at Zion National Park in Utah, United States, the Kensington Oval cricket ground in Barbados and the Saint-Etinne Metropole’s Zenith, France.

Armenian monastic ensembles of Iran, Bam and its cultural landscape, Bisotoun, Naqsh-e Jahan Square, Pasargadae, Persepolis, Sheikh Safi al-din shrine, Shoushtar historical hydraulic system, Soltaniyeh, Tabriz historic bazaar complex, Takht-e Soleiman, Tchogha Zanbil and the Persian garden are some of the Iranian historical heritage that have been inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List so far.