Collected evidence indicates that the fire incident in the Palace of Sarhang-Abad in Ardestan County of Isfahan Province on Tuesday was deliberate, according to a top official with Iran's Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization.
Mohammad Moheb-Khodaei, deputy head of ICHHTO, said on the sidelines of his visit to the site on Thursday evening that investigation is underway by the county's governorate and the culprits will soon be arrested and penalized. "Fire department's technical experts will study the cause of the incident and report to the governorate on Friday," he said, IRNA reported. The palace of Sarhang-Abad was burnt on Tuesday in a fire that destroyed much of its wooden parts including the magnificent terrace before firefighters arrived to extinguish it in hours.
The 150-year-old nationally-inscribed structure was in a poor condition for years until last year the ICHHTO stepped in to revive it.
Although the structure is privately owned, the restoration project was conducted with state funds of over 5 billion rials ($98,000) and the first phase was completed in February.
Priority Restoration
"The sorry state of the building convinced the authorities to take action, otherwise it would have collapsed," Moheb-Khodaei said, adding that emergency restoration will be placed on the agenda again along with legal procedures in the coming months.
According to the official, a technical team from Isfahan is estimating the costs and restoration will be a top priority for fund allocation.
"Complete documentation and detailed maps of the complex are available and parts of the structure have remained intact; therefore, the main structure and the roofs could be duplicated as the original," he said.
Moheb-Khodaei noted that since Sarhang-Abad is of high historical and cultural value, ICHHTO has started guarding the palace, although it often has trouble protecting heritage sites due to their great number.
The private owners of the building have refused to enter into negotiation with ICHHTO in the past.
The official called on the governorate and the representative of Ardestan in parliament to arrange a meeting with the owners so as to come to an agreement about the future of the building.
"The owners should agree to either cede the building completely to ICHHTO or collaborate actively in its management and utilization," he said.
Also known as Ardestan's Chehel-Sotoun, the palace of Sarhang-Abad was built at around 1880 by Mustafa Qoli Khan Arab Ameri to host the princes of Qajar. Its architecture is a mix of the famous Chehel Sotoun Palace in Isfahan city and the Afif-Abad Garden of Shiraz, Fars Province.
The earliest document referring to the building was the travelogue of Haj Sayyah dating back to 1879, but it was only inscribed in the National Heritage List in 1976, nearly a century later.
