Zalian is a recreational tourist spot that attracts many visitors thanks to its greenery and the presence of many mirages.
What follows are IRNA’s photos of Zalian in Iran’s Markazi province:
The antique inscription was found near the Taq-e Bostan Cultural Complex and handed over to the cultural heritage department of the province.
Director of Taq-e Bostan Cultural Heritage Complex, Maliheh Mahdiabadi, told ISNA that the historical work was discovered by a local resident on the lower floor of a house he had bought recently.
“The decorative inscription is written in Kufic script. Although it has eroded over time, it will be handed over to experts for further studies,” she added.
Mahdiabadi also pointed to the discovery of artifacts from the Sassanid period during excavations for gas pipelines over the past few years, stressing that digging must be banned in this area.
Taq-e Bostan is located five kilometres from the city centre of Kermanshah. It is a site with a series of large rock reliefs from the Sassanid era located near the Zagros Mountains.
The reliefs have endured almost 1,700 years of wind and rain. The site has been turned into an archaeological park and a cultural complex.
Rouhani added that the foreign nationals, who have contracted COVID-19, can still receive health and medical services in the Islamic Republic.
The president made the remarks during the meeting of the National Headquarters to Fight Coronavirus on Thursday.
Iran’s president also stressed that the continuation of the health ministry’s screening plan is necessary with the expansion and development of diagnostic tests and the identification of suspected cases, as it can play a major role in preserving public health.
Rouhani further touched upon the need to pay special attention to the education of students through virtual methods and ordered the education minister to create the necessary mechanisms so that students can solve their problems in person.
“It is necessary to carefully evaluate the various teaching methods and the set of efforts made by teachers and students since March.”
During the meeting, the ministry of health and medical education also presented a report on the evaluation of high, medium and low-risk areas in the country. According to this report, the recovery rate of patients is increasing and the number of deaths is still decreasing.
In this report, it was emphasised if the citizens continue to stay home and observe the health protocols more areas will be added to the low-risk regions of the country in the future.
The report also examined the reopening of some new businesses in the low-risk areas.
The science ministry also delivered a report on the process of teaching university courses through the virtual network. President Rouhani stressed the need to increase the quality of teaching theoretical courses.
Then, the ministry of roads and urban development gave a report on the latest situation of intercity transportation in compliance with health protocols as well as the measures taken.
The report stated that trade exchanges at border terminals with Azerbaijan Republic and Turkey are underway, and that trade between the Sarakhs and Incheh-Borun railway terminals will resume soon.
According to the report, the basic goods reservoir in the ports have increased by 63% compared to last year, and the number of people leaving the port by train has increased by 2.5 times.
In collaboration with Tehran Municipality, the gallery has organised the painting contest for children under the age of 10 locked down at home due to the outbreak of the coronavirus.
Lili Golestan, a prominent translator and the owner and art director of the Golestan Gallery, has told Honar Online that the painting contest called “Quarantine” is open until May 9 and those interested can participate.
Golestan says the painting contest was very well received. “To date, about a month after the call, we have received 885 works, which will continue until Saturday, May 9.”
“On average, I get about 30 to 40 works a day, which is a good thing. However, the interesting point is that I have received paintings from Iranians residing in other countries such as the United States, France, Britain, Qatar and Oman,” she said.
She went on to say that most of the works belong to children between the ages of seven and nine, but there are also works by children under the age of six.
“Accordingly, for the convenience of the jury and in order to be fair, we divided the works into two sections of under six and over six, and the prizes of each section will be awarded separately.”
Golestan expressed dissatisfaction with some of the works created by the parents, saying “Unfortunately, this issue was quite evident in the works. So we took all of these works out of competition.”
The director of Golestan Gallery further elaborated on the quality of the works and the topics mostly seen in these works. “I have not been in contact with children for many years and so much imagination was really interesting to me.”
“There is a lot of pure imagination in these works. Looking at these works, I feel very good and smile. Most of the works are about the atmosphere at home and the things people do, and also the dissatisfaction caused by the coronavirus forcing people to stay home.”
The interesting point in these works is the excellent reflection of all the situations and events that take place at home. In most of these works the sentence “We defeat Corona” is mentioned showing that the children hope to defeat the disease. This has made the paintings very motivating, she continued.
Golestan also talked about the jury and the reasons they were chosen. “Farshid Mesqali has been painting and illustrating for children for many years and his works are very lovely. Kambiz Darmbakhsh can easily understand the humour of the works because he is a cartoonist, and Tara Behbahani, who has been teaching children for many years, knows their feelings well.”
About the Municipality’s collaboration she noted, “A few days ago, we received an email from Tehran’s Municipality asking us to provide them with selected paintings to screen them on a city wall. They also called from the office of the deputy mayor of Tehran expressing desire to enter the competition and publish a book of selected works to send to the mayors of other cities around the world. They offered to award the first ten winners a cash prize and the next ten people a plaque of appreciation. They also offered to display some selected works on a wall. We welcomed the proposal, and it was decided to provide them with the selected works.”
Golestan said it has yet to be decided how the closing ceremony will be held and the prizes will be awarded amid the coronavirus pandemic, but the winners will be announced in early June.
“The top three kids will be awarded cash prizes by Golestan Gallery and the next 20 people will be awarded prizes by Tehran Municipality, and as I said before, the prizes are given to two age groups of under six and over six.”
“Congratulations to Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, his Cabinet, the Parliament and most importantly the people of Iraq for success in forming a new Government,” Zarif tweeted Thursday.
“Iran always stands with the Iraqi people and their choice of administration,” he added.
Congratulations to Prime Minister @MAKadhimi, his Cabinet, the Parliament and most importantly the people of Iraq for success in forming a new Government.
Iran always stands with the Iraqi people and their choice of administration.
Meshginshahr Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Department announced the discovery of the site in the plains of this city saying 15 areas with stone carvings have been identified so far.
Head of the department, Imanali Imani said on Wednesday that in the plains of Meshginshahr, there is a treasure trove of art belonging to thousands of years ago.
“This is an example of the oldest human habitat that help us to see the evolution of human life since thousands of years ago,” he added.
He underlined that with the efforts and follow-ups of his department, the new regions of stone carvings have been identified and their files are being prepared to be registered in the list of national heritage.
“The petroglyphs, which are the best tools to decrypt the pre-historic era, are among the oldest documents of ancient human life and a manifestation of their community, culture, art, knowledge and ecology, as well as environmental representations, customs, beliefs, myths, dreams, prayers, hunting scenes and battles.”
He stated that the images on the ancient stones indicate the period when humans turned to the first tools of hunting and taming animals, and then agriculture and planting.
Imani said these engravings belong to the Bronze Age stating that the customs and beliefs of the people of this period and the importance of some animals in agriculture, war, etc. are mentioned in these carvings.
Meshginshahr is located 90 km northwest of Ardabil with dozens of ancient monuments. The historical site of Yeri city with tens of stone statues belonging to eight thousand years ago is located in this city.
The historical site of Yeri belongs to eras of the middle Paleolithic, bronze and iron ages, during which life began in this region about 8,000 years ago. This area has many historic places such as a large stone cemetery with about 300 graves, temple, castles, stone walls, gates, and ancient caves.
In a telephone conversation on Thursday, Mohammad Javad Zarif and Abdulaziz Kamilov talked about a range of different issues including mutual ties between Tehran and Tashkent, especially transit issues.
The outbreak of the coronavirus and developments in Afghanistan were among the other topics the two ministers exchanged views on.
In this conversation, Zarif also expressed condolences to the government and people of Uzbekistan, especially the victims of the recent flood in the Central Asian country.
Tens of thousands have been evacuated in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan after a reservoir dam on the Uzbek side overflew and broke.
22 villages in the affected area have been evacuated following the May 1 burst in Uzbekistan.
