A heritage tourism site, Masuleh is visited by thousands of tourists every year with a population of 554 individuals from 180 families according to the 2006 census.
Although the town has been entered in the National Heritage List of Iran in 1975 but the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has not finalized its registration in the list of World Heritage Sites yet.
In 2003, a delegation of experts from the UNESCO visited the town and documented the historical features of the place for registration procedure followed by the visit of UNESCO’s regional envoy in 2010 and the launch of an office for registration in 2011 but after years of bureaucracy the result has not been achieved.
The capital of Sardar-e Jangal District in Fuman County of Gilan Province of Iran, Masuleh is a mountainous town of more than 8 hundred years as the mosque of the town was built in 969 AD.
Masuleh is approximately 60 km southwest of Rasht and 32 km west of Fuman. The town is 1,050 meters above sea level in the Alborz mountain range, near the southern coast of the Caspian Sea. The town itself has a difference in elevation of 100 meters.
The most important feature of Masuleh is its architecture. In this village the yard of the building above is the roof of the building below.
Masuleh is surrounded by forest from valley to mount and fog is the predominant weather feature of Masuleh.
Out of hundreds of historical sites and monuments in Iran, 17 have been registered in UNESCO's List of World Heritage Sites including Meidan Emam in Esfahan, Persepolis in Shiraz and Tchogha Zanbil in Shoush.
To find out more about Masule you can visit:
http://www.iranreview.org/content/Documents/Masouleh-Village-On-the-Rooftops.htm
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