More Handicraft Hubs Listed on Nat'l Roster

The list of National Craft Cities has grown with the addition of 11 new cities and villages inscribed during an annual session recently held by Iran's Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization. The selected cities include Zanjan for filigree (a delicate kind of jewelry metalwork), Kashan for traditional textile, Iranshahr for needlework, Bojnourd for kilim (a flat tapestry-woven carpet or rug), Abadeh for wood carving, Ilam for embossed kilim and Shahr-e Kord for felt, according to Pouya Mahmoudian, handicrafts deputy at ICHHTO.
"In addition, villages of Fash in Kermanshah Province, Besk in Khorasan Razavi Province, Qasem Abad in Gilan Province and Bidkordouye in Kerman Province have been respectively selected for crafting indigenous musical instruments, silk work, Chadorshab and Chehel Mashouleh [different sorts of kilim]," the official said. Mahmoudian added that there are five more dossiers pending inscription, after addressing their slight shortcomings.