摘要：The aim of this study was to isolate and phenotypical identification of microorganisms involving inbiodeterioration of four historical places in Isfahan, Iran. For this purpose two hundred and ten sampleswere taken from the stones of Chehel Sotoun, Hasht Behesht, Alighapou and Imam mosque. For bacterialisolation blood agar and modified Bristol medium were used and for screening of fungal isolates potatodextrose agar was used. Then the samples were serially diluted and poured on the selected media. Forbacterial isolates the plates were incubated at 30°C for 48 hrs and for fungal isolation the plates were kept atroom temperature for 4 weeks. The pure colonies were identified using phenotypical and molecularidentification. Fungi were characterized using macroscopic characteristics and microscopic arrangements.The results obtained from this study indicated that the dominant isolated bacteria were Bacillus licheniformis,Bacillus thuringiensis and Halomonas sp. In addition the results showed that the fungal isolates belonged toGenus: Alternaria, Cladosporium, Penicillium, Absidia and Shaccharomyces. Furthermore, the most pollutedarea was Chehel Sotoun which is located in the traffic part of the city. Overall, stone materials of culturalheritage are constantly exposed to biodegradation by microorganisms and presence of organisms includingalgae, fungi and bacteria are likely to affect or even cause physico-chemical changes.
