Iran Press/ Middle East: During the meeting, the two officials also discussed issues such as restoration of the "Kasra Arch", agreement on joint cultural cooperation and development of religious tourism, the formation of a bilateral cultural committee, cooperation in the production of films and.
The Iraqi minister briefed the Iranian official on measures taken so far for the reconstruction of the "Kasra Arch" (Taq-e Kasra as it is called in Persian) and asked for Tehran's assistance in restoring it as well as the environment around this historical monument.
Masjedi stressed Iranian experts' readiness to help preserve and restore the "Kasra Arch", and called for speeding up the preparations for the team's presence in Iraq.
The Cultural Advisor of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Iraq, referring to the previous follow-up and negotiations regarding the repair and reconstruction of Kasra Arch, emphasized the preservation and protection of this historical monument after reconstruction and called for the establishment of a mechanism for this issue.
The two sides also emphasized the need for activation and re-formation of the bilateral cultural committee to follow up memoranda and other cultural agreements signed between the two countries.
Iran’s Minister of Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Ali-Asghar Mounesan had already said that Iran has reached an agreement with Iraq to repair the Iranian ancient monument of the Sassanid era, Taq-e Kasra in Ctesiphon, Iraq.
Mounesan said that the initial estimation by CHHTO for the purpose is around 600,000 dollars, after whose provision the Iranian archeologists will be dispatched to Iraq.
The famed Taq-e Kasra arch located in today's Al-Madain approximately 25 miles south of Baghdad, was built in 550CE during the reign of the Sasanian King Khosrow I. Ctesiphon originally served as the winter capital of the Parthian and the later Sasanian empires.
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