The first phase of a project to provide lighting at the Qal'eh Kouh, an ancient fortress in Qaen, South Khorasan Province, dating from the Seljuk dynasty in the 10th century, was completed.
"Supplying power to Qal'eh Kouh was the first step, which was completed in 2014 at the cost of 1.2 billion rials ($10,000)… The lighting funds were allocated from the national budget last year and the first phase, covering the southern, eastern and northern walls, has finished," Shahrokh Abbasi, head of Oaen's office of Iran's Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization, said, CHTN reported.
The old fortress is expected to give a major boost to the city's tourism market.
Abbasi said his office has allocated 350 billion rials ($2.8 million) for projects in the cultural heritage sector, of which 2.5 billion rials ($206,000) will go to the restorative and lighting operations at the historical monument. The rest will be spent to renovate the Jameh Mosque of Qaen and an underground fortress in the village of Nig.
Qal'eh Kouh is a mountain-top structure that covers 13,700 square meters and overlooks a mountainous landscape on one side and a plain on the other.
