Pasargadae, Iran

This limestone structure is built from dry masonry, using large regular stone blocks and a jointing technique called anathyrosis, which was known in Asia Minor in the 6th century. The first phase of the construction was built by Cyrus the Great, halted at his death in 530 BC. The second phase was built under Darius the Great (522-486 BC), using mud brick construction. The residential palace of Cyrus II was built 535-530 BC, its hypostyle hall has five rows of six columns. The gate house stands at the eastern limit of the core zone. It is a hypostyle hall with a rectangular plan. In one of the door jambs is the famous relief of the ‘winged figure’.

Pasargadae was the capital of the first great multicultural empire in Western Asia. Spanning the eastern mediterranean and Egypt to the Indus River, it is considered to be the first empire that respected the cultural diversity of different people. This was reflected in Achaemenid architecture, a synthetic representation of different

cultures.

Report from Asian News International brought to you by HT Syndication.

 Cracks have started to appear on the stonework of the mausoleum of Cyrus the Great in the archaeological site of Pasargadae in Iran, thanks to an all time high level of humidity.

According to Amir-Teimur Khosravi the Mayor of Pasargadae, “The level of humidity near the mausoleum of Cyrus the Great is so high that none of the Pasargadae’s residents have ever experienced it before.”

There is constant flow of damp and humidity smells to the Pasargadae plains coming from Bolaghi Valley, said the Mayor.

In the Southwest section of the mausoleum, which is considered the entrance to the archaeological site, the subterranean waters have surfaced and caused crakes to appear on the stonework, he…