About the Doulab Grave Mapping Project
The
Christian cemetery complex
in Doulab, Tehran, is under pressure.
For developers the vast area of more
than 75,000m² can be attractive as an
object of speculation. In the
Iranian capital the demand for land
flies high and there is a true building
craze going on in order to satisfy the
housing needs of an ever-growing urban
population. The present Tehran map of
the National Cartographic Institute does
not identify the grounds as cemetery any
more.
The normal wearing off of
materials also constitutes a threat to
the substance of the cemetery. Graves
are becoming derelict, inscriptions
whither, and parish registers become
inaccessible due to the ravages of time.
Moreover, the city council has revoked
the permission to use the ground as a
burial site. Thus the function of the
cemetery is slowly shifting from an area
serving fundamental needs of the Tehran
Christian communities to a mere relic of
times past.
Yet, there is more to the
cemetery than its mere functionality. It
is a place of artistic beauty and of
commemoration, including
of those who
actively contributed to the development
of Tehran. Experts and laymen
alike may marvel at the make-up of the
graves that reflect the influence of a
diversity of styles: from Art Nouveau to
Persian Modernism.
Important monuments
telling stories of feats and hardships
of people of the past can be seen as
well.
The whole cemetery compound has
been officially listed as a
national cultural
heritage item by ICHTO, the
Iranian Cultural Heritage and Tourism
Organization (شماره ثبت در فهرست آثار
ملی 2688).
In order not to lose
conscience of the importance of the
place and not let it fall into oblivion,
several European embassies and the Roman
Catholic diocese have launched the
Doulab Grave Mapping Project (GMP).
Fundamentally, the GMP is a
comprehensive survey of the graves in
the different parts of the cemetery. The
information available in situ has been
entered into a central database,
integrated with data from parish
registers and other sources, and finally
put at the disposition of the public
through a website-cum-search engine.
On
these sites you will find information
about the persons that are buried in
Doulab, about feats and misdeeds in the
eventful lives of some of them. You will
have the opportunity to flip through the
register of the deceased and make
interesting discoveries, or search for a
person in particular (an ancestor of
yours, a former dignitary of your
country, etc.).
You may also contribute
to the project by sending your comments,
hints and questions to the embassies
involved. Maybe you know something about
Doulab we have not yet been able to find
out. Maybe you can tell us the story of
someone’s life.
|
