A photo festival that featured national historical monuments, titled "Ehya" meaning revitalization in Persian, organized by the Revitalization and Utilization Fund for Historical Places, closed on Thursday. In the closing ceremony, attended by head of Iran's Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization Ali Asghar Mounesan, the creators of best works in various categories judged by a team of veteran photographers were honored.
Those categories included mobile, old and adaptive photos and the winning entries were picked from a collection of 5,800 works by 1,400 photographers, ISNA reported.
It was the first photo festival held by the revitalization fund, also known by its Persian acronym Saabta.
Future Plans
Saabta's head, Parham Janfeshan, told the ceremony that his organization plans to arrange for the event to be held regularly. "We, in the fund, intend to continue such festivals. The second edition will be launched shortly and we are trying to make it an international festival."
Janfeshan said a policymaking council and a jury of professional photographers will be assigned to help curate next editions of the festival. The event, according to him, was aimed at helping publicize the buildings through the art of photography.
The ceremony was also addressed by Mounesan, who welcomed Saabta's plans saying, "The festival can prove a big help in promoting the historical and cultural monuments and I hope it can also be held overseas." Privatizing the handling of repurposed ancient monuments has been on ICHHTO's agenda for some time.
"The process of handing over the historic buildings to the private sector is ongoing. Under the process, the buildings are renovated and revived to serve as a means to create jobs and promote our country's identity globally," Mounesan said.
He said tapping the full potential of art economy is a priority for his organization. "Bolstering the art economy is among the most important issues to be pursued. Fortunately there is a great deal of potential that needs to be properly exploited."
Mounesan called for more attention to plans to promote national tourist attractions among potential local visitors.
"We should not neglect domestic tourism because it is no less important than international tourism… Common sense tells us that we should boost our domestic tourism, so our people would choose to first visit our own attractions before touring overseas," the tourism chief said.
