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To
prove Iran’s ownership of the Achaemenid relief
whose sale on Christie’s was halted by a
London’s court order, a documentary film and
pictures of the excavations carried out in Xerxes
Palace of Persepolis in 1933 and a complete report
of the archeaology team working there were
submitted to the London court by the ICHTO
Committee for Retrieval of Historical Artifacts.
The limestone relief which shows an Achaemenid
soldier belongs to an eastern stairway of the
Xerxes Palace of the Achaemenid capital of
Persepolis, registered as a World Heritage Site.
Christie’s auctioneer of London was to accept
bids for the relief on its today sale, with an
estimated price of 200,000 to 300,000 pounds, but
the legal complaint by the Iranian Cultural
Heritage and Tourism Organization (ICHTO) urged a
London court to put a halt to its presentation.
According to director of the Committee for
Retrieval of Historical Artifacts, Mohammad Abdol
Alipour, the documentary film, pictures, and
documents of the excavations submitted to the
London’s court via Internet will clarify the
date of the excavations which plays an important
role in the case.
The Xerxes (Apadana) palace was not discovered
until 1933, and therefore the relief fragment
should have been plundered out of Iran after this
date; on the other hand, based on a law passed in
1930, each and every ancietn object that is
unearthed in Iran is a possession of the
governement. Therefore the piece certainly is an
Iranian heritage that should be returned to its
homeland.
“The relief enjoys structural featues that prove
its being part of the eastern stairway of Apadana,
and specialized studies can easily prove the date
of its being detached from its original
location,” explained Abdol Alipour, adding that
Iran is ready to provide more documents, if asked
by the London court, in the one week time that it
has been provided with for the provision of
necessary documents.
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