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CAIS ARCHAEOLOGICAL & CULTURAL NEWS OF IRANIAN WORLD© |
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Some of Persepolis Reliefs are Missing
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09 August 2006 |
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(Click to enlarge) |
By: Ashk.dokht Suren-Pahlav - Tehran
LONDON,
(CAIS) -- Some unique Persepolitan reliefs kept next to the Persepolis
Museum have been missing since 1999, and no one is willing to give
any information about their current whereabouts.
“In the summer of 1999 while I was carrying out my research for
republishing my book, The Persepolis, I noticed
there were reliefs next to the Persepolis Museum now missing, which were discovered during the
excavations at various points of the terrace, and the original location was
unknown”, Dr Reza Moradi-Ghiasabadi an Iranian archaeologist told the
news-reporters on Tuesday.
He continued “the original locations of the reliefs were unknown, and therefore at that time there was a plan to transfer them inside the Persepolis Museum or the the National museum in Tehran for public display.”
He
emphasized on the uniqueness of the reliefs, and said there cannot be found any
reliefs like those missing ones in the Persepolis complex, “those works of art were important for
Persepolitan studies due to their uniqueness. In April 2000, I made some
enquires about
the reliefs and asked for their pictures and details, in which no response was
made from the Cultural Heritage authorities. In addition they neither provided me
with any information about the location where the reliefs were found, nor they
were were
willing to inform me about their current whereabouts”.
Moradi-Ghiasabadi after seven years of searching for the missing
reliefs said: “these reliefs are different to the rest of the reliefs in
Persepolis. I am hoping whatever organization is holding these invaluable
artifacts return them, or at least explain why their current whereabouts are kept secret,
and no publication has been made available to researchers and public”.
Moradi-Ghiasabadi, described one of the missing reliefs as:
“this relief was about 5.1 meter in length, and 0.5 meter depth, therefore
its’ weight should have been around one tone. The carvings depict a male
figure (gift-bearer) holding one side of a palanquin-like tray carrying few
lambs on top, and at the other end another person holding the tray, which the
only remaining part of his body were his two hands.”
“I coming here at least twice a year, especially during the
Nowruz (Iranian New Year – March 21), and every time I notice some parts are
missing. The way it goes, if we want to see the Persepolis in fifty years time, we have
to travel abroad, and visit foreign museums or their private collections,”
said Zahra, one of the dismayed visitors to Persepolis historical complex.
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"History is the Light on the Path to Future" |
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Encyclopaedia Iranica
The British Institute of Persian Studies "Persepolis Reconstructed"
The British Museum
The Royal Asiatic Society
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