CAIS
The Circle of Ancient Iranian Studies
[ Home ]
[ About CAIS ]
[ Articles ]
[ Daily News ]
[ News Archive ]
[ Announcements ]
[ CAIS Seminars ]
[ Image Library ]
[ Copyright ]
[ Disclaimer ]
[ Submission ]
[ Search ]
[ Contact Us ]
[ Links ]
|
CAIS ARCHAEOLOGICAL & CULTURAL NEWS OF IRANIAN WORLD© |
|
Restoration of Cyrus the Great' Mausoleum Underway
|
|
29 May 2006 |
LONDON,
(CAIS) -- A team of experts recently began restoring
the mausoleum of Cyrus the Great at the ancient site of Pasargadae in Fars
Province, the Persian service of CHN reported on Sunday.
Several
megaliths of the mausoleum have been dislocated over time, and the restoration
project aims to put them in their proper positions in order to prevent water
from seeping into the monument.
“Studies
of the damage to the mausoleum were carried out last year, and the experts
prepared a plan, which is currently being implemented,” Parseh and Pasargadae
Research Foundation director Mohammad-Hassan Talebian said.
“(Iranian
archaeologist Ali) Sami had restored the mausoleum with cement before the 1979 revolution.
Since stone discharges cement after a time, gaps emerge among the stones,
allowing rainfall to leak into the mausoleum. But the new plan will resolve
the problem forever,” he added.
“This
year, we intend to focus on the restoration of the mausoleum of Cyrus and the
Pasargadae complex, so this year is the year of Pasargadae,” Talebian noted.
The
restoration work began with the ceiling and over ten experts will be working on
this section by the end of the year. So far, three megaliths, each weighing more
than two tons, have been fixed.
“The
megaliths are being relocated according to the locations of the metal braces,”
restoration team director Hassan Rahsaz explained, referring to the braces used
in the construction of the mausoleum.
The
mausoleum of Cyrus the Great is located at the Pasargadae complex, which was
added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List in July 2004.
About
19 kilometres away from Pasargadae, the Sivand Dam is scheduled by the Islamic
regime to come on stream in late August, flooding some very significant ancient
sites located in the Bolaghi Valley.
Archaeologists
believe that the reservoir of the dam will raise humidity, and thus even the
Pasargadae complex will also be at risk.
Pasargadae
was the first dynastic capital of the Achaemenid Empire, northeast of
Persepolis. Cyrus II the Great (reigned 559–c. 529 BCE) chose the site because
it lay near the scene of his victory over his grandfather Astyages, the last
king of the Median dynasty in 550 BCE.
|
Source/Extracted From: MNA
|
|
|
|
"History is the Light on the Path to Future" |
|
Encyclopaedia Iranica
The British Institute of Persian Studies "Persepolis Reconstructed"
The British Museum
The Royal Asiatic Society
|
