Pahlevani and zoorkhaneh rituals is the name inscribed by
UNESCO for
varzesh-e pahlavani (, "heroic sport") or
varzesh-e bastany (;
varzeš-e bastani, "ancient sport"), a traditional
Iranian system of athletics originally used to train warriors. It combines
martial arts, calisthenics, strength training and music. Recognized by
UNESCO as among the world's longest-running forms of such training, it fuses elements of pre-Islamic
Persian culture (particularly
Zoroastrianism,
Mithraism and
Gnosticism) with the spirituality of
Shia Islam and
Sufism. Practiced in a domed structure called the zurkhaneh, training sessions consist mainly of ritual gymnastic movements and climax with the core of combat practice, a form of submission-grappling called
koshti pahlevani.