Iran and Austria will collaborate in joint research and scientific projects on archaeology. The collaboration is part of the recent MoU signed last week between the Research Institute of Cultural Heritage and Tourism (RICHT) and the University of Innsbruck in Austria.
Head of RICHT, Seyed Mohammad Beheshti, and Austrian ambassador to Tehran, Friedrich Stift signed the agreements on behalf of the two countries.
Both sides emphasized the exchange of researchers, scholars, and university students to work on joint projects in related areas, namely archaeology, preservation and restoration of ancient sites, history, linguistics, anthropology, and studies on manuscripts. They also plan to hold educational workshops on the subject, Mehr News agency reported.
The Austrian diplomat pointed to Iran as a country with a rich culture and hoped that the MoU provides the ground for fruitful collaboration on cultural heritage and tourism.
Considering the previous successful joint actions between the two sides such as holding the exhibition of ‘7000 Years of Persian Art’ in 2000-2001 at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, Beheshti stressed the need for expanding ties in cultural, research, and tourism areas.
From November 22, 2000, Vienna’s Museum of Art History (Kunsthistorisches) presented 180 masterpieces spanning 7,000 years of Iranian art from the collections of the Iranian National Museum in Tehran.
It was the first time since the Islamic Revolution that the treasures could be admired abroad. Some of the exhibits in Vienna had never been presented to the public before.
The exhibition covered a wide period and included clay figures from the 7th millennium BC as well as early Islamic painted ceramic vessels from the 10th century AD. The event ended in late March 2001.
