Pasargadae shiraz

Pasargadae , the Achaemenes Capital

You should move forward to south of Iran and Fars province to discover what Pasargadae really is.
You can see ancient monuments in Morghab plain close to Pasargadae city.
These monuments are left from so many years ago and have lots of things to say.
Pasargadae is where the glorious Achaemenes Empire was stablished.
Pasargadae is known as the first capital of Achaemenes Empire.
The most important monuments of Achaemenes Empire are found in Pasargadae.
Pasargadae complex is the fifth Iranian work on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Pasargadae was also registered in National Heritage List in 24 Shahrivar 1310, as number 19.

Pasargadae complex consists the following parts:

• Tomb of Cyrus
• Mozafari Caravanserai
• Private Palace
• Audience Palace
• Persian Garden Complex
• Gate Palace
• Stone Gate
• Stone Tower
• Tall-e Takht
• Holy Sanctuary

Different constructions in Pasargadae complex are located as below:

• Tomb of Cyrus in south
• Tall-e Takht is located on a hill in north of the main area
• The royal complex in the center of the main area, which includes the remains of the gate building,
  the public hall, the palace, and the royal garden
• Prison of Solomon in north of complex

Tomb of Cyrus

the tomb of Cyrus is the most important and the most famous monuments of Pasargadae complex.
For many people Pasargadae complex is known with this tomb and they pass a long way to reach Pasargadae to visit Tomb of Cyrus.
The tomb of Cyrus is located in the southern part of the complex and is said to have been made under Cyrus’ command and under his supervision. This is a simple, yet beautiful and impressive monument with 156 square meters and an altitude of 11 meters.
After 25 centuries it is not collapsed and it catches your eyes once you enter Morghab plain.

It has an astonishing design that draws every visitor’s attention to the ancient ziggurat temples,
it attracts attention from everywhere in the plain with its simplicity and magnificence.
The tomb has a two-part structure, which includes a stair platform and a tombstone with a hinged roof.

The Private Palace; Where Cyrus lived in

the private palace is another palace of Pasargadae complex with an area of ​​3,192 square meters.
It has a central hall and two eastern and western porches.
There were also two rooms in the northern and southern corners of the western porch of the palace, which today they are almost destroyed.
As the plat and the building’s architecture show, Cyrus lived in this palace.
On the portals of this palace there is a picture of the shah with his servant, which is larger than the real size of the shah. In this drawing, the king is in a Chinese long drees with gold buttons.
Near the eastern port and on the wall of the porch, there is also a rocky platform in front of the campus,
it seems that it was used by the king to watch the garden.

The stones used to build this palace are of three types: white marble, black limestone and gravel sandstone.
The combination of black and white rocks in the base part of the pillars and
porches are considered to be a special and unique architectural innovation at that time.
In the southern corner of the palace, you can see a rocky wall that has a hollow inside and
is adhered to brick walls of the structure. It leads to greater strength of the building.
On top of it in the northern part there is a script on which things are written to introduce the king Cyrus.

The Audience Palace; The First United Nations Headquarters In The World

this palace is where Cyrus, the Shah welcomed the guests and officials of the various nations and
civilizations under his region and talked to them about various issues.
Indeed, The Audience Palace is said to be the first United Nations Headquarters.
About twenty-five centuries ago, concepts like human thoughts, human rights, and the concept of freedom and
equality of human were discussed in this palace and was spread to other parts of the world.
The palace comprise an area of ​​2,472 square meters and it is built in the northwest-southeast axis.
A palace that includes a large central hall with 8 columns of 705 square meters.
On the four sides of the palace, there are 4 verandahs, which, along with smaller pillars and two other rooms, form this palace.

The central hall of the palace is higher than the ceiling of the close porches.
This hall is connected to the four porches next to the palace through four doorways.
Today, just on column of eight columns of the central hall is remained with a height of 10.13 meters.
These pillars were made with white stone.
The four doorways that connected the hall to the porches surrounding the palace was made of black stone and in the following ways they were connected to the porches:
• Northwest doorway
• Northeast doorway
• Southwest doorway
• Southwest doorway
Also, in this palace, there are 3 stones on which there is a script.
On this script it is written:  “I am Cyrus, Shah, and Achaemenes Zadeh” in three languages ​​of the ancient Persian Elamite and Babylon.

Persian Garden Complex of Pasargadae

Pasargadae Persian Garden Complex is one of the most famous parts of the Pasargadae Complex, which is listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List along with 8 other Persian Garden.
This garden which is also known as Pasargadae Pardis, King Garden of Pasargadae and the Cyrus Campus is almost destroyed today and only some parts of it remained.
A garden that depicts an image of a garden with Iranian design, and Iranian garden architecture patterns.
Pasargadae Garden, at its time, was able to innovate royal gardens on the plateau of Iran.
In addition, the garden is considered as the mother of Persian gardens of the Safavid period as well as Indian royal gardens.

An interesting point about Pasargadae Campus is that, according to historical sources, Cyrus the Great, told the builders how to build the garden and how to design it, and even how the trees should be planted.
The garden also have large buildings and other small gardens inside, and many call this garden “gardens in the garden complex”.
The evidence and discoveries show that the gardens included two buildings for rest, various trees, colorful flowers and birds, all of which were gathered under Cyrus’s command.
In general, as the research shows, the design of the Pasargadae Gardens, the trees and colorful flowers has made this place like paradise.

Gate Palace

The Gate Palace is one of the three palaces discovered in the Pasargadae complex.
This gate is known as the entry gateway to the site of the palace.
This palace is similar to Gate of All Nations of Pasargadae.
The area is 726 square meters in the east of the Pasargadae complex.
Archaeological evidence suggests that the building had a total area of ​​686 square feet, with a ceiling installed on an eight 16 meters columns. Anyway, it is almost destroyed today.
Each of these columns was placed on another cubic base columns made of black stone of 2-2 meters in size.
These magnitude pillars show how impressive the pillars in the Palace Hall were.
Unfortunately, today there is no trace of these columns, but the foundations found in the gate of the palace are protected and safe.

The Grand Hall of the Palace had two main gateways to the northwest and southeast.

Two other subways, in the northeast and southwest, linked the hall to the other sections of the palace.
Archaeologists have been able to find walls around the palace in their excavations.
Two security guards were also found near the northeastern and southwest ports.
According to their findings, the height of each of these walls was 9 meters in the past.
One of the wall of the complex you can see a man with four wings worshiping God.
This wall is one of the most important sign in the complex.

Pasargadae, the Achaemenes capital, was built by Cyrus the Great, in collaboration with the various peoples of the Achaemenes Empire.
This monument is known as a fundamental step in the evolution of Iranian art and classical architecture of Iran.
The Pasargadae  Archeological Site includes the palaces, gardens and the tomb of Cyrus, the Shah of Iran, which is a reminder of Achaemenes civilization.