[caption id="attachment_115805" align="alignright" width="252"] Siraf port[/caption]
Iran is planning to offer the historical port of Siraf to the UNESCO for a possible inscription on the World Heritage list of the organization.
Iran is slated to introduce Siraf, known today as Taheri Port, to the world as a historical Persian port which is located in the Persian Gulf.
Located 220 kilometers south-east of Bushehr and approximately 380 kilometers west of Bandar Abbas, the city of Siraf is noted for its many historic sites dating back to the Sassanid, Parthian and Islamic eras.
Archeological evidence unveiled that the port had been much larger before parts of it were submerged. The submerged sections were once part of a large city which went under water after an earthquake.
Siraf is one of the most successful ports of the world and a picture of wealth and activity during the ancient times such as those we witnessed in Hong Kong, Venice, and Boston later on, described the British archaeologist David Whitehouse who excavated the area during 1970s.
The excavations had yielded east African ivory objects, Indian stone pieces, and Afghan lapis in Siraf which confirm the use of the historic port as the main marine trade route during the pre-Islamic era and the first four centuries following the advent of Islam.
One hundred 35-130 meter deep stone wells and graves at the foot of the mountains surrounding the city are among some of Siraf's unique archeological sites.
Islamic gravestones, the resting place of the Muslim scholar Ibn Sibeveyh, and a number of Towers of Silence and Zoroastrian temples portray the region's religious diversity throughout history.
World Heritage site is a title that is given to the locations, which have "outstanding universal value" to all of humanity, according to the UNESCO description.
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 UNESCOs World Heritage List so far.