Tehran, 16 July 2008: The Research Center of Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts, and Tourism Organization (ICHHTO) is to introduce 200 luminaries as Iranian nationalities to UNESCO.

The center aims to preserve Iran’s cultural heritage and prevent some other countries from claiming these figures as their own, the head of the center, Taha Hashemi told CHN.

He added that the short biography of each figure has been prepared and will be submitted to the UNESCO headquarters in Paris.

Hashemi continued, “These figures will be studied at three different stages, namely international, national and regional. The international list has been prepared for UNESCO, and on the national and regional levels, their names and biographies will be introduced in school textbooks. We are also planning to order statutes of these figures to be installed in their birth or death places.”

UNESCO has declared 2009 the International Year of Astronomy, and Iranian Muslim scholar, philosopher, mathematician and astronomer Sheikh Bahai is among the world luminaries to be commemorated this year, he went on to say.

Iran is also planning to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the death Sheikh Bahai and has invited scholars from around the world to write papers and send them to the websites www.sheykhbahaie.com and www.sheikhbahaee.com, he concluded.

source : chnpress.com