UNESCO registers Iran's Shushtar water system

The Shushtar Historical Hydraulic System in Iran's Khuzestan Province has been registered on UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites. Inscribed as a masterpiece of creative genius, Iran's Shushtar water system is the country's 10th cultural heritage site to be registered on the UN list. The site dates back to the time of the Achaemenid king Darius the Great in the 5th century BCE and involves two main diversion canals on the Karun River one of which, Gargar canal, is still in use providing water to the city of Shushtar via a series of tunnels that supply water to mills. The system forms a cliff from which water cascades into a downstream basin and enters south of the city enabling the people of Shushtar to plant orchards and create farms over an area of 40,000 hectares. Also known as Mianab, the site includes the Salasel Castel, the operation centre of the hydraulic system as well as the tower where the water level is measured, damns, bridges, basins and mills. The Armenian Monastic Ensembles (2008), Bisotun (2006), Soltaniyeh Dome (2005), Pasargadae (2004), Bam and its Cultural Landscape (2004), Takht-e Soleyman (2003), Tchogha Zanbil (1979), Persepolis (1979) Isfahan's Naqsh-e-Jahan Square are the other Iranian sites registered on the UNESCO list.