Tehran – A total of nine historic sites in the northwestern province of West Azarbaijan have been demarcated in the last Iranian calendar year 1399 (March 20, 2020 – March 21, 2021), CHTN reported.

Authorities are seeking to prevent acts such as land grabbing and illegal building within the legal boundaries of the sites, which included archaeological hills and historic churches, according to the report.

Some 1,100 historical remains have also been unearthed during the numerous excavations carried out across the province during the mentioned period, most of which can be visited at the Urmia Museum.

Western Azarbaijan includes a variety of lush natural landscapes, cultural heritage sites and museums, including the UNESCO sites of Takht-e Soleyman and Qareh Klise (Monastery of St. Thaddeus), Teppe Hasanlu and the ruined citadel of Bastam .

The region has been the seat of several ancient civilizations. He was part of Urartu and later of Media. In the 4th century BC, it was conquered by Alexander the Great and was named Atropatene after one of Alexander’s generals, Atropates, who established a small kingdom there. The region returned to Persian (Iranian) rule under the Sassanids in the 3rd century CE. The Arabs controlled Azerbaijan from the 7th century until the Turkish nomads invaded it in the 11th century. Now the inhabitants of the region speak Turkish. The region was invaded by the Mongols in the 13th century, and under ruler Hulegu, Azarbaijan became the center of a Mongolian empire stretching from Syria in the west to the Oxus River (now Amu Darya ) to the East.
ABU / AFM