TEHRAN – The Iranian government has allocated some 1.1 trillion rials ($3.7 million) to the tourism and handicrafts sectors of the northern province of Golestan, the provincial tourism chief has said. This budget is set aside for 55 projects in the areas of tourism, cultural heritage, and handicrafts, Rahman Farmani explained on Tuesday. Golestan is reportedly embracing some 2,500 historical and natural sites, with UNESCO-registered Gonbad-e Qabus – a one-millennium-old brick tower – amongst its most famous. Narratives say the tower has influenced various subsequent designers of tomb towers and other cylindrical commemorative structures both in the region and beyond.

The UNESCO comments that the tower bears testimony to the cultural exchange between Central Asian nomads and the ancient civilization of Iran.ABU/AFM