Wall Raises Hackles of ICHHTO, Tehran Municipality

A disharmonious brick wall built by the Majlis Technical and Engineering Office to protect Tehran's old parliament building has raised the hackles of heritage and municipal authorities for harming the historically valuable structure.

Almost a week after the work started, Rajab Ali Khosroabadi, the head of Tehran's office of Iran's Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization, announced that the project has commenced without acquiring a permit from either ICHHTO or Tehran Municipality.

"Besides the strong possibility of structural impairment, the aesthetic view of the traditional architecture of the building has already been marred by the wall," he complained, stressing that the project must undergo studies at ICHHTO's Technical Council, ISNA reported.

So far, 120 cm of the wall have been constructed but officials have not mentioned the planned height. Although efforts have been made to simulate the building's architecture to minimize visual impairment, the project is considered a violation of the buffer zone of the monument inscribed on the list of National Heritage Sites.

The Majlis office had planned the wall to improve the building's security following the simultaneous terrorist attacks at the parliament and the mausoleum of Imam Khomeini in the south of Tehran on June 7.

It also stirred up Tehran City Council members who criticized the project, as it is against regulations concerning cultural heritage protection, lamenting that "lawmakers are breaking the law they made."

The project has been suspended following the protests of ICHHTO and municipal officials.

According to Khosroabadi, negotiations are underway with related officials and judicial bodies to prevent any undesirable fallout of the project.

Located in the vicinity of Baharestan Square in Tehran's District 12, the Iranian Parliament Building, known as Baharestan Building, was built in 1906. The name is derived from the namesake neighborhood.

Baharestan remained the location of the lower house of the Iranian Parliament until the Islamic Revolution in 1979. After the revolution, the parliament became unicameral and moved to a new building in the neighborhood in 2004.

The June terrorist attacks, which killed 12 people and wounded 42, was claimed by the self-styled Islamic State terrorist group.