A huge cultural, art and tourist center will be established near the tomb of Shams-e Tabrizi in Khoy County, West Azarbaijan Province, with the aim of highlighting the luminary's achievements in literature and culture, in addition to the development of tourism in the area, Ali Asghar Mounesan, head of Iran's Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization, pledged.
Shams-e Tabrizi, a Persian Muslim living between 1185 and 1248, is credited as the spiritual instructor of the renowned poet Mowlana and is referenced with great reverence in his poetic collection.
In the closing ceremony of the 4th international conference of Shams and Mowlana, held on August 28-9 in Khoy, Mounesan announced that the project will soon enter its operational phase with the collaboration of the municipality, ISNA reported.
"The complex, that will be established across 7,000 square kilometers, will cover a cultural center, a conference hall and recreational and travel service sections," Mounesan said, adding that it will be financed by national funds and will be completed in a year. Given the city's historical and cultural richness, the official said, Khoy has the potential to turn into a tourism hub.
The project aims to draw on the potential of the prominent figure to introduce Khoy as an attraction for both domestic and foreign tourists the way the neighboring country Turkey has successfully promoted Konia—where Shams' student Mowlana died—as a destination.
The tomb of Shams was recently nominated to be proposed to UNESCO for a World Heritage Site status.
