TEHRAN -- German experts from the Dresden Technical University are due to restore the Sassanid site of Takht-e Soleiman in West Azarbaijan Province. 

In an agreement recently signed in the city of Takab, the experts from the Department of Structural Design of Dresden University of Technology will begin the restoration process at the Khosrow Portico, the Takht-e Soleiman Study Center director said in a press conference held in Takab on Tuesday.

Based on the agreement, the team headed by Professor Wolfram Jaeger will continue their collaboration in the renovation of other parts of the site during the next five years, Farhad Azizi added.

Professor Jaeger, also present at the conference, said that they will begin the studies this year and the renovation process will begin next year, adding that all scaffolding used for the restoration at the site would be removed.

Prof. Jaeger had previously contributed to the restoration project of Bam Citadel.

Located 45 kilometers northeast of the city of Takab, Takht-e Soleiman used to be a fire temple called Azargoshasb in the Sassanid era, when the temple was at its apogee.

Azargoshasb was one of the three main fire temples built around the lake located in the region by order of Khosrow Anushirvan, who ruled the Sassanid Empire from 531 to 579 CE. Associated with Jesus’s childhood in Christian legends, the lake is called “Chichast” in the Avesta, the Zoroastrian holy book.

According to studies carried out by Iranian and foreign archaeologists over the past few decades, Takht-e Soleiman saw four stages of construction during the Sassanid era. The Ilkhanids, a Mongol people who ruled eastern Iran from 1256 to 1349, also added some structures to the monument in five stages.

Studies indicate that after the Ilkhanids devastated the royal monuments of the site, Takht-e Soleiman had been converted into a township comprised of a bazaar, a mosque, a bath house, and housing units. Abagha, Hulegu's successor, expelled people from the township, but they returned after his death in 1282. 

Takht-e Soleiman was registered on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2003.

RM/YAW

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