Cyrus Cylinder

Cyrus Cylinder

The Cyrus Cylinder, a 2,500-year-old clay artefact, has been on display recently at the National Museum of Iran in Tehran, on loan for a special exhibition from the British Museum in London.

The Cyrus Cylinder dates from King Cyrus' conquest of ancient Babylon in 539 BCE and his subsequent freeing of the subservient peoples of the city state, who had been enslaved there, including a sizeable Jewish population.

The ancient cuneiform script pronounces the rights of all religious groups to worship the god(s) of their choice.

Over 1 million people are believed to have viewed the Cyrus Cylinder while it was on display in the Iranian capital.

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Iran Collection British Museum

Iran Collection British Museum

The British Museum in London has some of the finest pieces of ancient Persian art outside of the National Museum in Tehran.

Many of the pieces were excavated by Robert Gordon from Persepolis in the early 19th century.



The citadel of Persepolis was constructed by Darius I around 500 BCE and the iconography of the sculpures and relief works included influences from Egypt, Greece and Mesopotamia. Persepolis was destroyed by the Macedonian invader Alexander in 330 BCE.



British Museum

Guide to Tehran

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National Museum of Iran Tehran

National Museum of Iran Tehran

The National Museum of Iran in central Tehran is not to be missed on any visit to the capital.



The original building of the museum, which houses the pre-Islamic exhibits dates from the 1930s and was designed by French architect, Andre Godard.

Building 1 of the museum houses artifacts ranging from Iran's prehistoric past to the Elamite, Achaemenid and Parthian periods.

Image © Camille-Helene Lemouchoux & IranVisitor.com

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Iran UNESCO World Heritage Sites

Iran UNESCO World Heritage Sites

Here is a list of UNESCO World Heritage sites and the year they were inscribed to the list.

Tchogha Zanbil (1979)
Meidan Emam, Esfahan (1979)
Persepolis (1979)
Takht-e Soleyman (2003)
Bam and its Cultural Landscape (2004)
Pasargadae (2004)
Soltaniyeh - the mausoleum of Oljaytu (2005)

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